


Tony's Tiny Family

by lilnaugrim



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Artist Steve Rogers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Steve, Wounded Leg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2015-05-15
Packaged: 2018-03-30 16:46:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3944191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilnaugrim/pseuds/lilnaugrim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU!No Powers, where Steve is a struggling artist who has to adopt his young niece and nephews and try to make it in the modern day. He never expects to find genius, billionaire, and philanthropist, Tony Stark getting mugged in an alley way. Their lives are turned upside down, side ways, and shaken up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ice Cream, Work, and the Bad Guy

                Steve cheered and stood up as he clapped for his nephew; Clint hit the winning home run for his team and ran all the bases. All the parents stood up with Steve to cheer and whoop for their sons, supporting them to the max. Steve couldn’t have been more proud of his nephew. His grin stretched from ear to ear, Clint running the bases like he owned the field; his teammates were cheering him on as well; the Little Hawks.

  “What a game buddy! I’m so proud of you!” Steve went to congratulate him; Clint was just getting out of the locker room.

  “Hey man, thanks!” Clint grinned up to him; the fourteen year old shouldering his equipment. “I’m glad you could come.”

  “I’m glad I was able to as well,” Steve put his arm around the young boys’ shoulder and led him over to the small blue Corolla. “Let’s go pick up your sister and brother and celebrate with some ice cream, what say you?” he asked, unlocking the newer car.

  “Hell yeah!” Clint chirped and threw his gear in the truck before hopping into the front seat.

                Clint, Natasha, and Bruce were all Steve’s nieces and nephews. Steve’s sister and her husband died in a tragic car accident, nearly a fifty car pileup on the highway; they died instantly. Steve was the last kin alive and so he was forced to take them under his wing, well, he wasn’t forced, but he knew that if he didn’t adopt them, then they’d end up in the system and he knew what it was like to be in the system. Natasha was the oldest out of them, sixteen, Clint was the middle at fourteen, and Bruce was the youngest at nine.

                Steve worked hard for his tiny family; the kids were still adjusting to him as it had only been just under two months since they had lived with him. He lived in a small apartment that only had two bedrooms; Steve let Natasha have the lone room where Clint and Bruce shared the other room. There was a small bathroom, the living room of course, and a small kitchen. Most of his things came from the Salvation Army and others who donated to him after he came home from the war. He was fortunate for his honorable discharge, but not with the way that he had gotten it. He struggled every day with the thought of his discharge, the ache in his leg didn’t help anything either. It was a lot for a twenty nine year old to keep together.

                After Steve’s discharge, he began focusing more on his art than anything. He got a job at a small retail store for third shift, he tried to love it as much as he could, but it wasn’t enough most days. He had started to apply to other stores that would take an ex-soldier with a partially bum leg. Many places didn’t want to hire him, but he’d keep trying for more pay for the sake of the kids. Everything he did now was for the sake of the kids.

  “I call shotgun!” Natasha ran out to the car when Steve announced the news.

  “Not fair!” Clint ran after her, Bruce kept with Steve, holding the larger hand as Steve smiled at the kids.

  “Clint, you got the ride home, let her ride shotgun,” Steve said to them when they got out to the car garage of the apartment complex. Nat and Clint were trying to wrestle for the front seat, Steve came over and forcefully picked Clint up by the arm to get him off of Natasha, Nat quickly slipped into the front seat and closed the door as she stuck her tongue out at them.

  “Get in or you won’t be getting ice cream!” Steve warned them, all three got in and buckled up quickly. Steve grinned and limped around to the other side to get in with them. He started the car up and drove them across town to the little ice cream shop that Steve loved ever since he was a kid. The kids were yakking up a storm through the ride; he smiled at the boys in the mirror and had to yell at Natasha for not keeping front as she tried to join in the fun with the boy’s in the back. Everything was swell on the outside, it was Steve’s inside that he was worried about.

                Steve was in a constant worry for money, he could barely afford his own apartment when he was living alone, now that he had the three kids on top of it; he wasn’t sure how he was even able to take the kids out to ice cream for a treat. This was the first time he had been able to take them out, it made him feel good about things, but he was always worrying in the back of his mind.

  “Steve, hey Steve!” Bruce tugged at Steve’s sleeve when they were all seated outside at the small tables shielded by an umbrella.

  “Hm?” Steve looked down at him.

  “You were off in la-la land, weren’t you?” Bruce smiled up at him, Steve chuckled and ruffled the black haired kid next to him.

  “Yeah, I was just thinking,” he nodded. “You kids enjoying your ice cream?” he asked.

  “Absolutely!” came Natasha’s reply.

  “Hell yeah!” Clint repeated himself.

  “Yes Steve, thank you for the treat,” Bruce smiled fondly to Steve. “Why didn’t you get ice cream Steve?” he asked oh so innocently.

  “Oh um, I’m lactose intolerant,” Steve made up the excuse, truth was that he was skipping out on his dinner just to pay for their ice cream and their own dinner that night.

  “Oh okay,” Bruce happily went about licking up his kiddie sized ice cream. Natasha gave him a knowing look but didn’t call out his bluff. Clint didn’t give a crap if Steve was allergic or not, he was enjoying his Strawberry ice cream.

 “How was your day at school Nat?” he asked her, she shrugged.

  “About the same as any day, Assassin Club is going great, we initiated a new member today,” she nodded with that small smile she liked to wear. Steve nodded with a smile; the Assassins club was something that she had founded with the help of some other females in her high school. It was a small, but elitist group, dedicated to helping females learn self-defense. They didn’t live in the best part of Brooklyn so, she made the best of her abilities and with her spotted past, she resolved to teach others self-defense as well. Steve always thought it was a noble thing to do; he was a sucker for that kind of thing though.

  “Great!” he smiled to her, “Bruce, how about you?” he asked the young kid next to him.

  “It was okay, I did really well on my science exam!” he exclaimed happily, “but…my history class hasn’t been going so great,” he winced.

  “Well don’t you worry, I can help you with that,” Steve patted him on the back and looked to his kids. _His_ kids, gosh, he never thought he’d see something like this so soon. It still broke his bleeding heart when he thought about these kids’ rough past, their father wasn’t the best for them and his sister did all she could to help them. He helped out when he could, but it was hard when he was deployed, he was silently grateful that he was able to come back in time to help them out.

  “Ready to go home?” he asked them when most were finished with their cones. He had a chorus of answers, most were ‘no’ but there was one ‘yes’ which he knew came from Natasha. He chuckled at them and got them up anyway and back to their car and then finally back home.

                Natasha was a big help to have around, she helped Bruce with things that he needed to get done while Steve would get ready for work. She’d occasionally help out with dinner when Steve was running late; he was eternally grateful for her and told her so when she helped out. She gave him that knowing smile and would nod to him. Tonight was no different, as Steve readied himself for work, Natasha helped Bruce get into his pajamas and then off to bed.

  “Don’t work too hard,” Nat smiled to Steve.

  “Hold down the fort while I’m gone, yeah?” he smiled back; she nodded and waved him off. He shut and locked the apartment door and went down the two flights to find his car. He limped over to it and sat down, massaging out his thigh with a painful mumble. It was going to rain soon, probably tomorrow or the next day; it always hurt more when the barometric pressure changed. He grumbled and started his car again and headed off to the retail store, he knew this night’s work was not going to be pleasant because of his pain. The store did allow him an extra fifteen minute break through his eight hour work schedule because of his injury and status in the Army, but it didn’t always help him. He swallowed two, extra strength Tylenol before starting his ‘day’.

  “Hey Steve,” one of his coworkers greeted him when she saw him.

  “Hey Sharon,” he smiled and nodded to her as they took to the floor, the store starting to close down for the night so they could restock the shelves.

  “How are the kids doing?” she asked, knowing completely about his situation and his discharge from the war.

  “They seem to be doing alright,” he nodded with a smile; he was still feeling high off their excitement and enthusiasm about the ice cream. “Clint won the last baseball game of the season with a fantastic home run hit. So I took the three out for ice cream, they really enjoyed it,” he told her about his day.

  “I can tell you enjoyed it too, you look about as proud of them as any father would,” she noted.

  “Yeah, but I’m not—“ she stopped him from continuing the sentence.

  “I know you’re not biologically, but for now, you’re all these kids have and I’d say that you’re doing one hell of a job with them Steven Rogers,” she nodded to him, adorning a bright smile when he ducked his head at the praise.

  “Thanks Sharon,” he replied, “it really means a lot to me.”

                The pair worked through the night with a couple more from their shift. Their jobs were to restock the shelves from being wiped out during the day time and basically clean up the store. It was four in the morning when Steve first noticed him.

  “Hey!” he yelled out, alerting the man in black, “thief!” he yelled out and ran after the man who had been snooping around. The man yelped and ran away as fast as he could, exiting through the front door. Steve ignored the pain in his leg and ran after the man, hunting him down to the next alley over. “Get back here!” Steve yelled and tackled the man to the ground; he could hear the wind being knocked out of the man as he held the guy in a lock, regaining his own breath. “What do you think you were doing in there?!” Steve growled at him. “Come on,” Steve forcibly picked the man up and dragged him back to the store where Sharon had already called the police, not that the police were very timely at this time of night, but they were called at least.

  “Are you alright Steve?” Sharon quickly put a hand to his broad shoulder, he looked down to her and nodded, dragging the thief inside where he zip tied his hands behind his back and then zip tied that to a handle that was screwed to the wall. The thief mumbled and pulled at his confines, but he was stuck to them.

  “Alright, who are you?” Steve pulled the black mask off of the man to reveal a dashing looking young man, dark blonde hair much like Steve’s, but it was all moussed from the ski mask he’d been wearing.

  “They call me Johnny, Johnny Storm” he said to Steve, a light smirk playing at his lips like he knew a secret.

  “What were you doing trying to steal from us? Why didn’t you pick a store that didn’t have a third shift working?” Steve asked, confused why he would try with people around.

  “It’s more fun,” Johnny shrugged to him. “Besides,” he said, face growing darker and smirk falling, “it’s the closest one to my family,” he said quiet. Steve sighed, how could he be mad at someone who was just trying to save his family.

  “Can’t you get a job?” Steve asked.

  “They don’t take known criminals,” Johnny growled to him

  “If you prove yourself they—“

  “Don’t talk to _me_ about proving yourself!” Johnny yelled at him.

  “Fine, save it for the police,” Steve turned away from him as well, “see if I care.”

  “You want to know why?” Johnny started up again, Steve turned to look at him once more. “You know why I tried to steal from this store? It’s the only god damned store that has food around here, prepackaged food that won’t go bad if I don’t eat it right away. Do you know what it feels like to be homeless with your family? Huh? Do ya?” Johnny growled at him. Steve went up and slammed him against the wall by his neck.

  “Don’t you dare stand there and ask me how it feels to be homeless!” Steve growled at him, “you don’t know the half of it! Be thankful that you’re alive!” he practically barred his teeth at the man before him. Johnny averted his eyes as Sharon quickly came up to pull Steve away.

  “Steve, let him go,” she pulled him away, his leg aching terribly. She pulled him over to the cashier’s seat and set him down, he immediately put his head in his hands, elbows on his knees as he bent over, he was ashamed of being so harsh on a man who he didn’t know. What if that man had it harder than he had it?

  “I have no right—no right to say that,” he sobbed into his hands, completing his mental train of thought.

  “You have every right Steve. Not everyone can handle going through what you did,” Sharon tried to soothe him, petting his hair and an arm around him in comfort. “To lose as much as you did,” she whispered, kissing the clothed shoulder.

  “Here he is,” the police came in through the front door, guns ready in case the man wanted to run or was dangerous.

  “Are you Sharon?” a man came over to the pair.

  “Yes, I called in the robbery, the man is over there zip tied to the wall,” she pointed.

  “Yes, we see that. Listen, we’re going to need both of your statements, so if you don’t mind coming down to the police station later in the day when you’re off work, that’d be great,” the lieutenant asked them, Steve wiped his face and nodded.

  “Thank you officer,” Steve said without raising his eyes to the man.

  “It’s our duty sir,” the man replied and went to collect the criminal.

  “You alright?” Sharon asked him, rubbing his back gently.

  “Yeah, I’ll be alright,” he nodded, wiping the rest of his face and tried to stand up only to find that his wounded leg was extremely sore now. “Well, I will be, I’m not sure about my leg though,” he told her truthfully.

  “Why don’t you take the last two hours off? I’m sure the manager won’t mind after you just singlehandedly chased down a thief for him,” she kept her hands on the bulky arm and tried to lead him out of the store.

  “No, no, I can’t. I need the money,” he shook his head and tore out of her gentle grasp.

  “Steve,” she accused him quietly, “I’ll lend you my pay,” she tried to reason with him.

  “Sharon, please, no,” he shook his head, he didn’t like to accept charity, no matter how small it might be. “I’ll be alright,” he tried to reassure her, “look, good as new,” he tried to hide the limp, it didn’t work so well but she still chuckled at him.

  “You’re amazing Steve Rogers,” she stood on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. He smiled at her and got back to work, no matter how badly his leg was begging him to sit down for a while.

  “See you tomorrow?” Sharon asked when they were punching out.

  “Tomorrow is my day off, remember?” he asked.

  “Oh yes, I keep forgetting that. Our schedules change so often,” she nodded.

  “I will be in on Sunday night though, so I’ll see you then,” he moved to kiss her forehead.

  “See you then super soldier,” she winked at him and left to catch the morning bus. He smiled after her figure, the smile started to morph into pain when he walked to his car.


	2. Kids, a Police Station, and More Bad Guys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve reports the attempted robbery like a good little citizen, get's into a fight and then walks out to try to clear his head.

Steve nearly passed out on the way home, it was only a fifteen minute drive but he was beat from chasing the criminal and all that work he’d done. He limped and leaned against the rail heavily as he walked up the two flights of stairs from the garage to his apartment. He struggled to get the key in the door, but it opened up on his own.

  “Oh, you look awful,” Natasha greeted him deadpan, he snorted but allowed himself to be led inside and sat down on the couch. Nat ran over to the fridge and fished one of the ice packs out of the freezer, wrapped it in a thin towel and went back to Steve to hand it to him. “Rough night?” she asked, watching him apply the ice to his throbbing thigh, wincing at the searing icy feeling.

  “Yeah…” he felt like he couldn’t catch his breath, “just some thief, ran him down and turned him in to the police,” he summarized for her.

  “Eventful,” she nodded. She was generally a short worded person; he’d grown accustomed to her subtle humor.

  “Thanks,” he motioned to the ice pack and she nodded.

  “Need more acetaminophen?” she asked, he nodded strenuously. She got up to get the bottle on the counter and grabbed him a glass of water while she was at it; she gave both to him and then went back to the kitchen to start on breakfast. “Don’t worry about breakfast, I’ve got it,” she told him from across the apartment.

  “You’re a godsend Nat,” he sighed to her, downing the two pills and drowning them with the glass of water.

  “I could say the same for you,” she smirked to him and he smiled back. “You just get some rest,” she instructed him. He gratefully laid down on the couch, his make-shift bed and curled with the pillow and blanket; ice pack stuck between him and the couch. He slept for what felt like eternity, that was, until his alarm woke him up. He knew Natasha had gotten the boy’s off to school and had them fed, as well as probably packed their lunches as well. He cursed himself for not remembering to pack their lunches that day. He shut the alarm off and sat up and yawned loudly into the empty apartment.

                Steve rubbed at his face as he stood in the shower, the cool water running down his body. Even though he didn’t have to, Steve still lifted and exercised as much as he could in order to stay fit, he wanted to protect his tiny family if it came down to it. He may not be able to protect them with money; his strength was his next best option. He tried to think positive thoughts as much as he could while he washed the grime off his body and prepared for the day ahead of him. He remembered that he had to go down to the police station today so he shaved himself clean and combed his hair to the side with a part so perfect that his Colonel would have been proud of. He put on his cleanest pair of khaki slacks, brown shoes and a nice blue plaid; he liked how the blue of the shirt and the yellow of his hair went together.

                Steve smiled at the note that was left on the table for him; breakfast leftovers were in the fridge courtesy of Natasha. He quickly delved into the fried eggs as he made himself some toast and rinsed everything down with a cool glass of water. Steve sighed to himself and massaged the leg as he sat at the table for a moment. The fridge had drawings that the kids had done at school on them and pages from various coloring books. Natasha was the best when it came to coloring inside the lines but Clint was the best at small detail. Bruce really loved the color of green and purple, so most of his drawings were done with those colors. Steve smiled at the fridge and thought himself lucky in some strange way. Finally, he figured it was time to go; best to go before the kids got home from school. He caught the bus to get to the police station ten minutes across town.

  “Hi, Rogers, Steven reporting for the theft at Shield’s Grocery and Merchandise,” Steve found a policeman at the front desk.

  “Yes, door on your left, go down the hall and on the right the Lieutenant is waiting for you,” he pointed him to the right direction.

  “Thank you,” Steve smiled politely down to him and walked in the direction that the man told him to go.

  “Name?” the woman at the desk asked him when he sat down, a glance from her.

  “Steven G. Rogers,” he said, back straight in his chair; old habits die hard.

  “Thank you, tell me what happened this morning,” she looked at her computer more than she did him. He recalled the events for her how they happened and she wrote it all down. “Johnny you say?” she asked.

  “Yes, that’s what his name was, or at least, what he told me. Johnny Storm I think he said,” he nodded.

  “Yes…we call him the Human Torch down here, he’s a known convict. It’s all petty stuff though, he never gets himself into real trouble, steers clear from jail if he can help it,” she nodded with a smile. Steve suddenly felt bad for the man, thinking about him and how hard it must have been on him.

  “Is he in serious trouble this time?” he asked.

  “No, he didn’t actually get anything from the store, you caught him before anything actually happened,” she shook her head, he could have sighed with relief but thought best to hold it back.

  “Is that all you need from me?” he asked.

  “Yes Captain, you’re free to go,” she smiled to him; he winced slightly at his formal title. “And thank you for your service,” she had to add before giving him a salute. He nodded to her, stood and left her office and started off down the street back home. He checked his watch, he still had an hour before the kids would be home, he stuck his hands in his pockets and walked easy, his mind was still cluttered dangerously.

                Steve didn’t realize where he was walking before he realized that he’d been walking in the wrong direction the entire time, he cursed himself once again and turned around to find his way back home. This is what happened when he thought too much and didn’t concentrate on where he was going. He crossed the street to the fancier side of town and tried getting through a couple alley ways. Finally, he was home, his leg starting to feel better after the light exercise.

                The kids came home half an hour later; Steve was already starting for dinner as the two boys started on their homework at the table. Natasha had a date that night, with Steve’s permission finally, so she was readying herself for that. Steve prepped the spaghetti and meatballs while the two boys started to argue over who got the next pair of new sneakers. The arguing was going through Steve’s head like an arrow, piercing until he finally yelled at them to stop.

  “No one is getting new sneakers until I have enough money!” he yelled at them, the two boys quieted themselves and stared at Steve; wide eyed. This wasn’t the first time that Steve had to yell at them to break up fights, the kids had been quite dysfunctional when he inherited them. Steve didn’t particularly enjoy yelling at them, but he knew he had to assert force somewhere to get them to respect him.

  “Mom would have never let that get in the way of new shoes,” Clint mumbled under his breath. Steve froze when he heard the retort.

  “Well guess what, your mom isn’t here, so you’re going to have to settle for me!” Steve growled at him. Clint’s eyes widened with the fact that Steve had heard him.

  “Steve, he didn’t mean—“ Bruce tried to cover for his brother.

  “Bruce, stay out of this please,” Steve told him, dishrag still in hand. “You think you’re the only one who has it tough Clint, is that it?” he asked, leaning on the table. “You think you’re the only one who’s lost family? The only one who had to give up something nice for something old? The only one who’s working their damn butt off to pay for everything?” Steve yelled at him, he saw Bruce’s eyes well up in tears. Natasha came out of her room dressed as nice as she could. “Well guess what, you ain’t alone buddy, you want something new then you’re going to have to work for it like the rest of us,” Steve stood up from his lean and threw the towel on the counter.

  “Bruce, come on,” Natasha gently led her brother out of the kitchen and to his room to comfort him.

  “How can I work when you forbid us to leave the apartment without your permission?!” Clint retorted, angry now.

  “If you’d just ask me—“

  “You’d say no!”

  “Not if it was a good enough reason!”

  “You’re a horrible father!” Clint stood up and went into his room as well, slamming the door shut behind him. Steve stared after him, it wasn’t the first fight either but his heart still pained him for making a child cry and another one angry. He angrily scrawled a note that said he was going out; dinner was done if they were hungry. He forewent the pain in his leg and quickly started to walk the streets of New York, where he was going, he didn’t care, he just needed to be out of the house.

                It felt like ages when he finally found the pain in his leg creeping up on him. He leaned against a building and huffed into the night air, he still felt horrible. The fact that Clint looked at him as a father figure after such short time pained him even more; he’d never be their father and never wanted to be like their real father, but yet here he was, yelling at them the same way that their father had. That’s all Clint saw; his real father in Steve because Steve yelled. Steve sobbed at the thought and covered his face, he felt like the worst person on the planet.

                Steve tried to quiet himself; there were people around after all. It wasn’t until he heard a scream and yell from the alley way that he was near that he completely stop his tears. He looked down the darkened alley to see four men, or rather, one man getting beat on by the other three.

  “Hey!” Steve advanced on them, the fourth man was crumpled on the ground, whimpering.

  “Stay out of this Rambo,” the biggest of the three threatened him.

  “What if I don’t?” Steve asked, he was in hero mode again, he couldn’t help it; every time someone innocent or seemingly innocent was getting beat on, it came out.

  “Then you’re asking for a real beating Chuck,” the guy put up his fists. Steve did likewise; keeping a loose stature. He saw the man on the ground pull himself to the wall to sit up and watch.

  “Bring it,” Steve beckoned them on. The biggest swung first, Steve was grateful for his agility on top of his strength, he ducked and upper cut the man in his jaw which sent him reeling.

  “How dare you!” he hissed.

  “You asked for it,” Steve shrugged and quickly fended off the smaller two of them. He swung, punch after punch, he even used one of the metal garbage can top’s as a shield to block a few punches and sent one of the men flying into the wall with a concussion. The biggest man fled while he could, or at least he tried to. Steve quickly threw the trash can lid like a Frisbee, knocking the biggest man over the head with it, the force sent the man flying to the ground where he stayed. While Steve wasn’t looking, the smallest man came around to sock him in the jaw; Steve reeled back but quickly punched the man out, counting three knock-outs.

  “Wow…” the fourth man breathed out, he was still sitting against the wall, watching the whole thing play out.

  “Hey, you alright?” Steve asked as he tried to catch his breath; he wasn’t as in shape as he would have liked to have been, but he figured he did alright for himself. He dropped to his knees next to the man to inspect him.

  “Yeah, yeah, I think so,” the man shifted, seemingly uncomfortable. “How about you super soldier?” the man asked, Steve stiffened at the nickname, how did he know? “Had that nickname before? Sorry if that startles you. I can see you were in the army and since you just fucking beat three men nearly to death; you’re super, hence super soldier,” the man shrugged and explained himself.

  “Oh,” Steve nodded in understanding. “Oh, well yeah…yeah I’m alright I think,” Steve nodded.

  “Good, I wouldn’t want two of us to pass out,” the man’s head nodded, the body attempting to shut down to reboot.

  “Hey, hey, hey, stay with me,” Steve cupped his face and slapped him a few times, the man’s eyes going in and out of focus. “Hey, do you want to go to the hospital? There’s one not too far,” Steve offered, the man tried to sit up more at the mention; shaking his head vigorously. “Okay, okay, no hospital. Where do you live?” Steve asked, trying to get more information but the man already passed out on him. Steve sighed heavily, the way he saw it, he had two options; leave the man to die here, or bring him home. Since Steve was Steve, he opted to bring the man home, regardless of how strange he might have been. Steve cursed his compassion sometimes, regardless, he picked the man up and started home, the man was oddly light.

                Once home, Steve pulled the man inside and deposited him gently on the couch, he went to check to make sure the boys were asleep, they were, and Natasha was still going to be out for a while. Steve went to the bathroom to find the cotton balls and peroxide before going back to the man who was stirring.

  “Hey, I’m just going to clean these wounds, don’t want them infected,” he told the man softly as he started to dab at the bloody areas. The man winced loudly and pulled away. “Quiet please, I have kids sleeping,” he tried to keep him quiet; the man winced but stayed still.

  “What will your wife think?” the man chuckled.

  “They aren’t mine and I don’t have a wife,” Steve replied, dabbing as gently as he could at the wounds.

  “Orphans?”

  “Niece and nephews, their parents died in a crash two and a half months back and I took them in,” he corrected the man who was now trying to sit up. “Stop moving,” Steve grumbled at him, he did stop when he was sitting upright.

  “Hey thanks for bringing me in,” the man said to him suddenly.

  “No problem. Have any family I can phone to pick you up?” Steve asked, throwing the bloodied cotton balls away.

  “Want to get rid of me that quickly?” the man grinned, it was an award winning grin for sure. Steve looked back to him in a bit of surprise.

  “No…I just wanted to make sure your family knew you were safe is all,” he said, limping back to continue to clean the man off.

  “No family alive,” the man shrugged.

  “I’m sorry,” Steve said nonchalantly as he rubbed out dried blood from the man’s black and springy hair.

  “It’s fine,” he shrugged again.

  “Well still, is there anyone I should phone to have you picked up? You can stay the night if you like and then leave in the morning, or whatever is comfortable with you,” Steve said, searching over the face to make sure it was cleaned as well as he could.

  “Thanks, that’s real kind of you, you know. Not many people this side of Brooklyn is willing to do that, especially for someone like me,” the man smiled again.

  “Well who are you?” Steve asked.

  “You first,” the man pointed to Steve.

  “Oh, well, I’m Steven Rogers,” he stuck out a hand to shake; the man grinned and shook it.

  “Tony Stark,” he replied. Steve knew he was looking a little too wide-eyed for an adult male, he knew the name for sure, who didn’t know Tony Stark? He now recognized him under the swollen eye, fat lip, and bruised cheek.

  “Oh,” Steve breathed out.

  “Yeah, I get that a lot,” Tony smiled patiently at him. “Again though, thanks for saving me,” Tony nodded.

  “Oh…yeah, yeah, no problem,” Steve shook himself from his star-struck gaze; he had Tony Stark in his living room, the real Tony Stark. “You look younger than I thought,” Steve blurted out which got Tony to laugh; Steve instantly shushed him, reminding him of the kids.

  “I’m only thirty one, how old did you think I was?” he chuckled.

  “Oh…I don’t know…I guess I just don’t pay much attention,” Steve shrugged, hand going up to rub at the back of his neck.

  “I like you Steve Rogers, you’re a good guy,” Tony grinned at him, Steve stopped to look at him.

  “Thanks…I guess you’re not so bad yourself,” he offered to which Tony chuckled once more. “Hey, are you hungry? I should have some left over spaghetti and meatballs if you’re interested,” Steve already bounced up to limp to the kitchen.

  “Sure, why not, I don’t recall the last time I ate,” Tony tried to stand up but found his concussion overruled that decision and he fell back to the couch with a groan.

  “Stay, I got it,” Steve commanded him, Tony gave a light salute. “Do you not eat like normal people?” he had to ask, Tony chuckled again.

  “I eat when I remember to eat,” he shrugged; Steve pulled out the leftovers and started to heat them in the small microwave he had.

  “Want anything to drink? I’m afraid all I have to offer is water or milk,” Steve winced.

  “Water would be great,” Tony nodded. Steve quickly got to the cabinet with the five glasses in it, he took out his normal glass and filled it with as cold of water as he could get, he put in a single ice cube and went back to give it to Tony. “Thanks,” Tony raised his glass in salute before he drank it. Steve ran back to the microwave to get out the small plate and then back to Tony. Tony put the glass on the small side table and graciously took the plate offered to him. “Wow! This is wonderful Steve!” Tony exclaimed, loudly at first but then reduced his voice when he remembered the kids.

  “Thanks,” Steve smiled and sat on the recliner. The door from the boys’ bedroom opened and a very tired looking Bruce stepped out in his pajamas and came to the open kitchen and living room, rubbing his eyes.

  “Stebe?” he asked quietly, “can I have a glass of water?” he slurred tiredly. Steve got up to take care of the kid.

  “Sure Bruce,” Steve led him over to the faucet to grab his cup and fill it half way with water like Bruce liked it. Steve stayed with Bruce while the boy drank deeply. Steve took the empty glass when he was done and put it on the counter. “Alright, you ready for bed?” he asked, he could feel Tony looking at them. Bruce nodded. “I’m sorry for earlier and walking out on you guys, are you alright?” he asked, bending down to look into Bruce’s very green eyes. Bruce nodded, Steve smiled and pulled the kid in for a hug and kissed his head. “Alright, off to bed with you,” he ushered him along. Bruce didn’t even notice the extra person in the living room. Steve watched him off before going back down to sit with Tony who was just about done with his food.

  “You care about them a lot, don’t you?” Tony asked.

  “I’m all they have and they’re all I have,” Steve answered, rubbing his face tiredly.

  “You’re lucky to have them,” Tony said quietly.

  “Yeah well…it was hard enough living on my own and now…now I have these three—I,” he stopped himself; he didn’t want to seem so ashamed in front of this stranger. Tony didn’t seem like a stranger though, his wide open eyes gave Steve the impression that he didn’t get out too often like this. Steve was sure that no one wanted to get out like that though, on the brink of death, beaten by three men.

  “Do you work?” Tony asked.

  “Of course!” Steve scoffed but lowered his voice when he flicked his eyes to the boys’ bedroom. “I work at Shield’s Grocery and Merchandise,” he said quietly, almost ashamed of it, “third shift,” he added.

  “Brutal,” Tony nodded; Steve nodded his own head in reply.

  “By night I do retail, by day, I take care of the kids, get them off to school, pack lunches and stuff like that. I do whatever needs to be done before they come home and then they get home and we make dinner while they do their homework and then it’s off to bed eventually,” Steve mapped out his day for him. He wasn’t sure why he could be so open with Tony, he felt obligated to tell him.

  “You sound like a superhero we all dream about,” Tony tilted his head to the side, and then wondered. “How long have you been at this?”

  “Just about two months now,” Steve said, yawning again, he was utterly exhausted.

  “You seem to do well with them,” Tony noted, motioning back towards Bruce. Steve nodded, he was doing his best to not nod off and leave the stranger by himself. What if this man wasn’t actually Tony Stark and was some robber, it was all a ploy to steal everything that Steve owned! Then Steve thought, he didn’t have anything worth stealing. “So uh, I don’t mind sleeping on the couch if you want to go back to your own bed to get some sleep. I don’t mind really,” Tony looked around the small living room.

  “Oh um…you’re sitting on it,” Steve motioned.

  “On what?” Tony asked, looking around the couch to see if he was sitting on something important.

  “My bed,” Steve’s hand went back to his neck to rub it nervously.

  “Oh…” Tony breathed out, suddenly feeling very sorry for the man in front of him.

  “It’s okay, I can sleep here,” Steve kicked out the recliner, wincing at his knee when it gave him a sharp pain. “I gave my room to Natasha, the two boys got their room and I sleep out here. I don’t mind though, the couch is pretty comfy when you get used to it,” Steve smiled, eyes half shut already. “Oh…did you need anything else? Like bathroom or something?” he snapped up, Tony was patting the pillow on one end of the couch, readying to sleep before he looked up at Steve.

  “Actually…you know, that would be a good thing to do,” Tony nodded, attempting to stand on his own. Steve put the recliner back to its original position and got up to help Tony up as well, stabilizing the man. “Oh boy, lots of—very dizzy,” Tony squinted his eyes as he grabbed a hold of Steve, trying to steady himself. Steve supported him and waited for Tony’s face to change, changing from pain to something more elated. “Hey big guy, have we met before?” Tony grinned up to him. Steve scoffed, rolled his eyes and led him around to the small bathroom. Tony chuckled and walked into the bathroom. “I’ve got it from here soldier boy,” Tony closed the door.

  “Alright, but hold onto something, I don’t feel like cleaning up any more blood tonight,” Steve warned.

  “Oh, I’ll be holding on to something alright,” he could practically feel Tony’s smirk, Steve just grumbled about it and went to the sink to wash up Tony’s plate which was picked clean already by the billionaire. How did Steve end up like this, he asked himself. He had a billionaire in his bathroom! He had to give it a chuckle, how often did one run into a billionaire genius, save his life, and then get him to his apartment? He listened as the toilet flushed and Tony awkwardly stumbled out of the bathroom.

  “Did you want to borrow any sweat pants or something?” Steve asked, going to the tiny bureau he had tucked in the corner of the living room.

  “Sure, these clothes are…well, they aren’t my best,” Tony looked down at his torn suit. Steve browsed through the bottom drawer to find an old, smaller pair of sweat pants and held the black pair out to Tony who began stripping right there in front of him.

  “Oh,” Steve said quietly, bringing out his own tan pair and white tee shirt.

  “Sorry, want me to go in the bathroom?” Tony asked, shirt already stripped off, leaving his undershirt as he started to work on his pants.

  “No, no, no, I can go. Sorry, I’m just not used to…well, other people, I suppose,” Steve scampered away to change in the bathroom. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the man, there was a strange attraction there that Steve didn’t normally have with other men. Steve didn’t mind any sorts of relationships; he wasn’t a prude after all. Then again, if someone didn’t find Tony Stark attractive, they must have been brain dead, Steve concluded. “You finished?” Steve poked his head out, he didn’t see anyone in the limited view he had from the hall.

  “Yep,” Tony said, “you’re safe soldier,” he chuckled. Steve rolled his eyes but exited the bathroom and rejoined the genius in his living room. Tony was already sprawled out on the couch and curled up under the blanket.

  “You’re all set then?” Steve asked, waiting for Tony’s reply, Tony nodded contently. Steve was satisfied and so he eased back down in the recliner but found his leg needed attention. He grumbled and got up again to grab his ice pack, shutting the lights out as he went.

  “What happened?” Tony asked when Steve sat back down again, Steve knew it was a question about his leg.

  “I…I was deployed to Afghanistan,” he started out quietly, Tony peaked an eye open to look over to his new found friend. “My best friend, Bucky, and I were out on a mission,” he said, the memories were still painful to him; it was only about a year ago. “He um…he took a bullet for me,” he became even quieter, “I…I brought him to the eight-station where the wounded go, but…but he was already dead by the time they tried to bring him back. The bullet had gone straight to his heart. I foolishly went out seeking revenge, I got it,” he huffed at himself, not looking at Tony. “I killed thirty three of them before one of them stepped on a land mine…I was lucky my leg didn’t come clean off. I was only about ten feet from it when it happened and—“ he choked up, “well…I’m lucky to be alive I suppose,” Steve finished, wiping the mist from his eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” Tony replied quietly, Steve nodded his thanks.

  “Just get some sleep, okay?” Steve told him.

  “Yeah,” Tony whispered, “hey Steve?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Thanks again, you’re a real kind man,” Tony smiled in the dark, hearing Steve’s huff as the soldier drifted into a fitful sleep.


	3. A Genius, a Date, and Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony resolves to take care of Steve since Steve selflessly gives everything to his new-found kids. Steve is emotional at the charity from his new found friend, but he takes it.

Steve felt none more awake than he had when he fell asleep, but he got up nonetheless to get breakfast ready for the kids. He didn’t even hear Natasha come home last night and quickly went to peak in her room, just to make sure. She was flopped down on her bed, snoring lightly. He smiled and went back to the kitchen to start with the scrambled eggs with onion and some cheese. He popped the toast in the toaster oven and took out the butter from the fridge. It was about fifteen after six when he felt a tug at his shirt; he looked down to see Bruce looking up at him with a sort of dazed look on his face.

 “Something the matter?” Steve asked, furrowed brow.

  “Tony Stark is in our living room!” he squealed out the whisper, something joyful coming over his face. Steve smiled and nodded to the kid, Stark had been Bruce’s idol for a while. Since Bruce was so into science, he often looked to Tony for guidance, or at least as much guidance that a far off celebrity could give him.

  “Yes, Tony Stark is in our living room,” he confirmed, “is he awake?”

  “No, I think he’s snoring,” Bruce looked back over to the couch, a bare foot hung over the arm of it.

  “Alright, well you let him sleep. He had a rough night; you can meet him later, okay?” Steve ruffled the kid’s hair and sent him back to his room to get ready for school. Natasha came out of her room to use the bathroom and clean herself up. Even though she was female, she still respected the fact that there was four of them living in this apartment and she was quick with her showers and everything else she needed to attend to. Steve was again, very grateful for how conscience she was for them.

  “Hey,” a rough voice sounded behind Steve, Steve looked and smiled at a very disheveled Tony Stark standing behind the small kitchen table, wrapped in Steve’s blanket.

  “Morning,” Steve smiled and motioned for Tony to sit down. “Would you like some coffee?” Steve offered the cup of black gold; Tony happily and almost greedily took it from him and dumped nearly half the sugar bowl into it, Steve just shook his head with a smile.

  “So…thank you, again, for kind of saving my life,” Tony said after he’d slurped nearly half the cup. Steve sat down with him with his own small cup of coffee, the last of his stash that he’d gotten for Christmas.

  “Really Tony, you don’t have to keep thanking me, I did what anyone would have done for someone in need,” Steve nodded, sipping the black coffee. Tony stopped at that and a hurt look overcame his face.

  “Not everyone,” he said quietly. Steve noticed the look, the look that told him Tony Stark was alone in the world, even if he did have it at his fingertips. Steve looked to the hall when he saw movement, Bruce had come back out, and still had that starry eyed look on his face.

  “Oh, Bruce, come here,” Steve smiled to the boy, he went reluctantly as Tony looked over to see the nine year old staring at him. “Bruce, this is Tony. Tony, this is Bruce, he’s a big fan of yours,” Steve introduced them.

  “Oh really now? Here kid, come pop a squat and tell me about it!” Tony patted the seat next to him. Steve grinned at the boy and nodded, encouraging him to join his celebrity crush. Bruce splashed a great smile on his face when he sat down next to Tony and Steve got up to start dishing out the breakfast to the kids and Tony. Bruce started to tell him about his own science endeavors and how he was really good with biology in particular. Tony listened with intent, grinning at him and nodding along, replying where he needed to. Steve suddenly felt a peace wash over him, like he could spend all day listening to Tony Stark ramble on about his inventions to a nine year old who had just as much enthusiasm as the thirty one year old did, it warmed his heart.

                Clint and Natasha soon joined the three for breakfast; Steve gave up his chair for Tony, sat back as he watched Tony introduced himself and entertained them with stories from his past while they ate. Steve tried to hide his growling stomach as he drank the coffee slowly; hoping it would satiate his needs. Tony told them what a wonderful guy that Steve was for saving his life, Bruce was still star struck.

  “Did you really save his life? Did you?!” he bounced in his chair.

  “Careful, you’re going to break the chair!” Steve chuckled as he went around to collect the empty plates and glasses to deposit them in the sink to clean later. “I suppose so, though he could have beat up the bad guys too,” he grinned back to the four.

  “Yeah well, they kind of surprised me is all. I could have given them the one-two if I’d seen them coming,” Tony chuckled to the enthralled three, even Natasha was happy to sit and listen.

  “Oh, kids, bus is coming, you’d better hurry!” Steve said to them when he looked out the window, he was thankful that they had a corner apartment which meant there was a window in the kitchen and one in the living room. It was like a whirlwind of bodies, Tony suddenly found himself at an empty table, the kids rushing out. Bruce quickly ran up to Steve to give him a hug and kiss and then around to Tony to give him a hug too.

  “Thank you Mr. Stark!” he ran off with a wave.

  “See you around kid!” he smiled. The pair watched the kids leave and suddenly found themselves alone, Tony was concerned for the human in front of him, it had been a long time since he felt that way for anyone. “So…are you going to eat anything?” he asked, he could feel it was a touchy subject.

  “No, I’ll be okay,” Steve turned back from the window, setting down his coffee cup and started to wash up the dishes. “How does your concussion feel?” he asked.

  “It’s alright, face is a little tight but nothing I’m not used to by now,” he answered, Steve nodded.

  “So what happened?”

  “Well…as you know, I’m Tony Stark and Tony Stark likes to get himself into trouble,” he chuckled at his own inside joke. “It was just some punks who work for a friend of mine…he recently tried to overtake my company and have me killed in the process.”

  “Really? Who would want to kill Tony Stark?” Steve threw the gest over his should to Tony, Tony huffed at him.

  “I’m not sure if you’re surprised or not, but everyone—everyone wants to kill me,” he laid his head in his hand while his other fingers played with the glass rim in front of him. “Well, they would have succeeded if you hadn’t of shown up,” he smiled to Steve’s backside. “Why were you out there? It’s not a common place to just be…roaming around in,” Tony asked, curious. Steve sighed and wiped his hands on the towel, dishes done for the day.

  “I got into an argument last night with Clint, I upset Bruce as well. So I—I went out for a walk…” he shrugged, sitting back down at the table with Tony. He looked over his face; the puffiness was going away but there was a horrible bruise under his eye and his lip was a little bloody still, but in all, he looked in good spirits.

  “I see,” he nodded, still fingering the glass.

  “So…do you need to call anyone to let them know you’re at least alive?” Steve asked.

  “Sorry, am I in your way?” he asked, picking his head up.

  “Oh, no, no, I just figured that someone…would care,” Steve shrugged.

  “Not really, this has happened before—the beating part, not the rescuing, this is almost a first for me,” he grinned at Steve.

  “Almost?”

  “Yeah, similar thing happened but the lady just cleaned me up and sent me on my way, no fresh cooked meals or anything,” Tony shrugged to him.

  “Ah,” Steve nodded.

  “So what do you normally do while the kids are away?” he asked.

  “Sleep, I generally am just coming home from work when they’re getting up. So I cook for them and send them off to school, then I sleep for the seven hours. Sometimes I have to wake up early to get some things done,” he shrugged.

  “Oh, you didn’t take the night off because of me did you?!”

  “No, no, last night was my night off,” Steve shook his head to reassure him.

  “I’m not sure if that makes things any better,” Tony grinned, “I ruined your only night for relaxing!”

  “Trust me, my night off is generally anything but relaxing,” he tried to assure him again.

  “Can I take you out?” Tony blurted, Steve snapped his eyes up to him.

  “I—“

  “Before you say no, this is strictly platonic if that’s what you want it to be, but damn Steve, I can hear your stomach growling from here!” Tony pleaded with him. Steve thought about it, he was very hungry after all.

  “Alright,” he agreed, Tony face lit up into pleasure.

  “Alright!” he jumped up enthusiastically, Steve winced at the groan that followed afterward with the altitude rise. “Remind me not to get so excited next time,” he peaked to Steve.

  “Next time? Planning for the second date already?!” Steve joked with him, standing up as well so he could get dressed.

  “So you are cool with it not being strictly platonic?” Tony asked a hopeful expression on his face.

  “We’ll see Mr. Stark, let’s get to know one another first before we jump into anything so…serious,” he led Tony back to the living room and then frowned.

  “What?” Tony noticed the look.

  “You’re going to need some new clothes,” he went over to his little bureau.

  “That’s not a problem, we can just stop at my place if you like, or I can just buy some new ones,” Tony shrugged but then frowned himself. “Or not, we will have to stop by my tower at least, damn thugs stole all my shit,” he grumbled.

  “Well here, I think these will fit,” Steve handed him an old pair of jeans that were too tight for him and a Black Sabbath tee shirt he had laying around.

  “Black Sabbath, huh? Didn’t figure you for a fan Steve,” Tony said as he slipped the tee shirt over his head.

  “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Steve smiled, “I’m a fan of many things, I mean, classical is definitely my favorite, but I will listen to anything,” Steve shrugged and pulled out another set of khaki’s and a plaid shirt for him, this time, the shirt was a nice green color with some yellow and blue woven in. Steve turned around; Tony had just taken the sweat pants off and stood in his boxer briefs. Steve had to stop himself from staring as the jeans slipped up the slender legs and over the plump tush of Tony Stark. “How about you?” Steve asked, tearing his eyes away and pretending he hadn’t just been oogling at Tony’s ass when he turned to smile at Steve knowingly.

  “I like a lot of things, mostly metal and rock, I can get used to pop if it’s necessary,” he shrugged, the clothes fit him well. Steve gave a small smile and held the clothes in his arms.

  “Well, I’m just going to go change, you can do whatever you like,” Steve motioned to the house, giving him free reign.

  “I’ll be waiting with bated breath,” Tony chuckled and plopped himself down on the couch once more. Steve chuckled and shook his head before going down to the bathroom to change, use the toilet and wash himself up; he wanted to at least seem presentable. He spent no more than ten minutes in the bathroom, brushing his teeth, flossing and rinsing, combing and taming his hair down once more.

  “Wow,” Tony sat up when Steve came into his view, “I’ve got to say, even though your style is a couple decades off, you really rock it!” Tony grinned, standing up carefully, noting Steve’s blush high on his cheeks.

  “Thanks, it’s…it’s all I could get,” he shifted uncomfortably.

  “Well come on, I could use a second breakfast!” Tony pulled Steve along.

  “Oh, one moment,” Steve pulled from Tony’s grip to grab his wallet and key’s, he made sure everything was off in the kitchen and in the boys’ room before they headed out the door, locking that as well.

  “Wait, don’t you have like…a chauffeur or something?” Steve questioned as they went down to his car.

  “Well yeah, but I want to ride with you,” Tony shrugged.

 “That makes no sense, it’s like you’re telling me to waste all my gas just for you,” Steve chuckled.

  “Haven’t you ever wanted to leave the life you live just for a day, just to experience someone else’s life for that time? Fame and fortune is nice and all, but it sure gets lonesome. Sure, I can hire anyone I want, but…it’s not the same,” Tony expressed as they slid into the car.

  “Yeah…I can empathize with that,” Steve sat at the wheel. Tony looked around the car, it was clean and tidy just like Steve.

  “This is a newer model, isn’t it?” Tony questioned.

  “I had to get it after coming back, I can’t drive my old stick any more with this leg,” Steve looked over to him sorrowfully.

  “Oh yeah…yeah, that makes sense,” Tony nodded back.

  “Buckle up.”

  “But we’re just—“

  “This car does not move until everyone is buckled,” Steve told him firmly. Tony sighed deeply but did as he was told. Steve tried to hide his smile and started the car up. Tony directed him to his own personal car garage under the tower and then to the elevator to go up seventy three flights to get to his penthouse. It was part office and part living space. Steve had never seen something so rich before, he stared at all the cleanliness around him, marveling at everything. Then he spotted the paintings that hung over the small fire place.

  “That’s a Van Gogh!” he exclaimed and quickly ran over to it, Tony seemed to be very happy when the twenty nine year old’s face lit up just as Bruce’s had earlier.

  “Are you a fan of him too?” Tony came up alongside of him.

  “Of him and many other great artists!” Steve breathed out, he was so taken with the work, he didn’t notice Tony slip away to change his clothes into something a little more suitable. Steve wanted to touch the work, the globs of paint that were built up by the artist himself, but he knew better than to touch artwork; it was not only disgraceful and dishonorable, but it could help to degenerate the work as well; there was almost no such thing as permanent, even oil paintings degraded over time.

  “I’ve never had someone here who’s been so enthralled with a simple painting before,” Tony chuckled, coming back around in a well-tailored suit. Steve still had his own star struck look going on when he looked to Tony.

  “That’s not just any simple painting Tony! That’s a Van Gogh! This painting goes for well over a million!” Steve exclaimed to him.

  “I know,” Tony chuckled, “I bought it,” he smiled at Steve, “come on, I’ll show you the rest of the penthouse, there’s a few other paintings you might like,” Tony pulled him along by the arm, Steve still couldn’t get over the space he had up in this tower. “So do you like it?” he asked after the tour and he grabbed a new credit card, wallet, and phone.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty amazing!” Steve grinned.

  “Awesome,” Tony smiled at up at him, he could feel the spark ignite between them for lack of better word, he hated to be cliché, but it really was like that fairy tale story, the pauper and the prince falling in love.

  “Tony!” a woman’s voice came from behind them, the pair jumped at the tall blonde woman.

  “Uh, Tony?” Steve asked, confused on who exactly this was and what Tony’s intentions for him really were.

  “Pepper!” he grinned and went to give her a hug.

  “My god, Tony! What happened?” she exclaimed, cupping his face to check him all over.

  “Pep, I’m fine, really!” Tony tried to pry from her grip. “Really, I am!” he continued, “Super soldier over there saved me,” he motioned back to a very uncomfortable Steve.

  “Uh hi, I’m Steve Rogers,” he waved to her, her facial expression softened.

  “Hello Mr. Rogers, sorry if I scared you,” she came to shake his hand.

  “Please, just Steve,” he told her and she nodded.

  “Pepper Potts, Mr. Starks C.E.O,” she introduced herself. He nodded graciously.

  “Not yet darling, I’m still head honcho,” he poked at her, going back to Steve’s side.

  “Well I’m more efficient than you so let’s just say I’m acting CEO,” she chuckled; Tony gave his best hurt look.

  “Pep, you kill me,” he shook his head, “hey, so I’m taking Steve out for breakfast, cancel all plans for today,” he told her.

  “Tony, you can’t—you were mugged last night! You should at least be checked out!” she followed them to the elevator.

  “I’m fine Pep, I told you, and Steve already took care of me. Besides, he’s one hell of a deserving fella,” he pointed at her as they got into the elevator. She just sighed and folded her arms like a mother. “She’s a good girl,” he smiled to Steve.

  “Seems to be so,” Steve replied with a nod.

  “We used to date, but things didn’t quite work out. She has more invested in the company than in me and while it hurt, I’m glad she’s CEO now,” he smiled, reminiscing of something.

  “Seems like a wise choice,” Steve nodded again, feeling uncomfortable once more.

  “Do you ever get that weird déjà vu feeling that you’ve met someone before and you feel like you know everything about them already?” Tony asked, looking up to Steve with a questioning look.

  “Yeah, it’s happened once or twice.”

  “Well it’s happening right now with you, you just seem so…I’m not sure of the word, familiar I guess. Maybe I saw you somewhere around before. But it’s more than just seeing you, I really feel like I know you,” Tony had an ever widening grin as he spoke.

  “Well we did stay up half the night chatting,” Steve chuckled at him.

  “This is true, but I still feel like I could list out every intimate detail of your life!” Tony continued. “You’re just plain amazing Steve Rogers,” he praised him; Steve scoffed but blushed all the same.

  “You still barely know me,” Steve grumbled playfully.

  “Yeah well, I might not know what you got for your tenth birthday, but I know what kind of man you are,” he replied.

  “Tony, I—you can’t know me so well after only a few hours of chat. I do like you, but I don’t think—“ Steve tried to reason with him.

  “You’re the kind of man to give selflessly, regardless of your situation. You plan everything out, and you have so much love to give,” Tony started, Steve could see the same pained look in Tony’s eyes that he’d seen before when he was talking about being lonesome. Tony trailed off; perhaps he was talking too much.

  “Sometimes the best way to look at something is from the outside,” Steve smiled, putting his arm around the genius’s shoulder to pull him close, Tony ducked his head before looking up at him.

  “I like you Steve, and not just because you saved my life—though I’m still appreciative about that, but because you’re you and you don’t stray from that, you aren’t fake,” he commented.

  “I wasn’t sure what to think of it—if we’re still in the sharing moment, I’ve heard a lot about you of course, who doesn’t know the name Tony Stark?” Steve kept his arm wrapped around the billionaire when they stepped out of the elevator and to the garage; the embrace was affectionate but not so overpowering. “But, you’re different than what I expected,” he continued.

  “Good different or bad different?” Tony had to ask when they walked to his car, getting in after Steve unlocked the car.

  “Good different, though, we still have the day for you to dissuade me,” Steve chuckled.

  “I will do everything in my power to do just the opposite Mr. Rogers!” Tony chuckled. “Alright big guy, let’s get some food,” Tony directed him to one of his favorite little breakfast nooks.

                Tony led Steve to the breakfast place, totally not caring that he still had quite the bruised face, he was just happy he had someone to share something with. Tony grinned to the waitress and she led them to his favorite booth, he could see the entire joint from that place and figured that Steve would appreciate the view as well.

  “Order anything you want, I don’t care if you order breakfast _and_ lunch!” Tony grinned to him.

  “Oh, well, I’m not _that_ hungry,” Steve looked over the menu, still ashamed that he couldn’t make enough money for the four of them.

  “Don’t give me that look, you’ve given more than enough of yourself, you deserve something good to happen to you and I’ll be damned if I can’t give it to you!” Tony proclaimed. Tony could see that Steve often had trouble accepting charity; he was pretty stubborn himself as well. “Look,” he said quieter to gain Steve’s attention, “money isn’t an issue for me, hell, I have too much of it anyway. Can’t I do something good for a good person?” he asked with a soft smile, there it was, Steve’s defeated smile.

  “Yes,” he replied, “thanks Tony,” he chose what he wanted, a nice big omelet with some toast and some home fries, and to finish it off; coffee, lots of good brewed coffee. Steve felt like he hit the jackpot, he wanted to revel in his earnings, but at the same time, he wondered what it would be like when Tony left him, surely the genius would get bored of him eventually whether that day would be today or tomorrow.

  “You’ve got that look again,” Tony warned him.

  “I’m sorry, I’m just…I’m not so used to people giving me things is all,” Steve looked back up to him, feeling very overwhelmed, he couldn’t help the mist that developed in his eyes and he quickly looked away to try to stop them. “I’m sorry!” he said quietly, Tony smiled politely and handed him the napkin to use. “I’m sorry, this is just all very overwhelming!” he told him what he’d been thinking, he had to crack a smile through the small stream of tears. Here he was in the middle of New York City, crying because some famous dude was taking him out to breakfast; it was all a little silly.

  “Hey, we all have our tough times. Sure, mine might not be with money, but as I’ve said a thousand times to you by now, I want to help you,” Tony said as the waitress came over with their food orders and more coffee.

  “Thank you Tony,” he nodded, thanked the waitress and dug into his food, savoring every bite like it was his last, and who knew, maybe it was.

  “So tell me about the kids, they all seem real great,” Tony started up the conversation when they were eating.

  “Natasha is the eldest, she’s a wonderful person though she doesn’t show it all the time. She’s reserved but very caring, I don’t think I’d be standing here today if she wasn’t there to help me. She cooks when I’m too tired to do anything but lay on the couch and pray that the pain will go away, she’ll put the boys to bed when it’s their bed time and I’m out. She helps the most with the house chores and really keeps the boys in line when it comes down to it. I may be the oldest one there, but it doesn’t mean I have the most authority all the time. Kids will be kids, ya’know?” Steve told him, Tony nodded in agreement. “Clint is the second oldest, he’s fourteen. He just won his team’s baseball game the other night, gosh, I felt like a real proud father when he ran those bases. If I ever had a son, I wouldn’t mind him to be like Clint, even if he is a big pain in the backside,” he chuckled. “And well, you know Bruce now, he’s a good little kid, never gets himself into trouble, gets good grades except that history. Poor kid has a little trouble there, but he gets by. I even caught him trying to practice chemistry in his bedroom!” Steve laughed at the memory, “it wasn’t long after they’d come to live with me and I think I scarred him badly that night, he hasn’t done it since. I just didn’t know what he was doing, so of course I was going to freak out when some vial bubbled over and burnt a hole through the floor,” he explained, Tony grinned at the story before hiding it again when he felt the piece of potato wedged between his teeth and tried to pick it out. “They’re all good kids really, I know they miss their parents—hell, I miss my sister. She was…she really understood people ya’know? She knew what to say at the right times and knew everything about everyone just by looking at them,” he trailed off, twirling his fork in his food. “She had this sort of gift, I suppose you could call it, she could heal people with just a smile,” he shrugged with his words, smiling into his food so he didn’t have to look at Tony.

  “Sounds like she was a wonderful person, much like you Steve,” Tony nodded but Steve huffed.

  “She was a saint, I’m just the monk trying to keep things together is all,” he reanimated himself and got back to eating.

  “You’re doing a damn good job of it from where I’m sitting,” Tony commented.

  “Thanks, I do suppose that trying is better than nothing,” Steve nodded, practically finishing his meal in just a matter of minutes.

  “To those kids it is, I’m pretty sure that you’re their hero.”

  “Can I get a waffle too?” Steve asked so innocently that Tony had to laugh.

  “You’re like a poor, abandoned Labrador that I picked up off the streets, of course you can!” Tony tried to quiet his laughs, noting that they made Steve uncomfortable when they were out together.

  “I’m not sure how I feel with that analogy,” Steve scrunched his nose up but Tony had to continue, it was too perfect.

  “You keep apologizing for the little things like they hurt me, you’ve taken three kids that aren’t even your own under your wing, protected them, fed them, educated them, and in turn, you take nothing for yourself. You are the epitome of a guard dog, Steve,” he chuckled. Steve only gave a small smile and a tilt of the head in response as the waitress came over to ask how they were doing. “One big waffle with strawberries and whip cream for the big guy, Analise,” Tony told her. She nodded and took their plates away.

                Soon, Steve was completely and utterly stuffed that he was sure he could go another three days without food and be completely fine. He and Tony were back in his car, Tony was chatting up a storm, Steve figured that he was happy to have someone listen and Steve was happy to listen for him. Even when they slid into his car and buckled up, Tony was still talking.

  “Thank you,” Steve cut him off, looking at the genius with a new light on him, how could anyone view Tony Stark as a bad man? Tony looked at Steve who was leaning slightly over the console; Tony grinned and quickly pushed forward to kiss Steve. Steve wasn’t completely shocked by the kiss, but he was thrown off guard by it, he pulled back sooner than he wanted to. As soon as he saw the hurt look Tony was giving him, he tried to lean into kiss him again but Tony pulled away this time.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Tony said quickly, eyes turning forward.

  “No, no, please Tony, I’m sorry!” Steve tried to make him look. “It’s just…I was just caught off guard by it was all. It’s been a long time since anyone has kissed me like that I—I didn’t know what to do for that split second, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pulled away,” he succeeding in getting Tony to look at him, the hurt look was gone and replaced with a tentative one now.

  “Want to try again?” Tony asked, a slight twinge of mischief sounded through his voice as Steve smiled.

  “Yeah, we can do that,” he offered himself up as he leaned over the console again, waiting for Tony to meet him halfway. Tony did just that, he stopped when he was an inch from Steve’s lips, teasing him. The pair smiled at each other through half lidded eyes before Tony pushed the rest of the way to connect their lips. Tony’s hand went up first to cradle Steve’s jaw as they made out in his car, lips smacking against each other, they switched head positions and Tony cradled Steve’s neck instead, pulling him closer as they kissed breathlessly. Tony moaned at the kiss, it was tantalizing and exhilarating, something that he hadn’t gotten from a kiss in a while. It was all the better because it was Steve, Steve, this amazing man who selflessly sacrificed himself for three kids. He had to whisper Steve’s name into his mouth between a kiss, he could feel Steve’s lips try to quirk into a smile but resisted on the account that his lips were locked in Tony’s. Tony went so far as to try to introduce his tongue, he was successful even though he was sure that Steve would pull away again. Tony hiked himself up more, trying to delve into Steve’s mouth as far as he could go, mapping out territories that he hoped he could stake a claim for. He only had to stop when he stretched his lip a little too far in favor of Steve, his lip stung with the remembrance that it was indeed, busted.

  “Sorry,” Tony pulled away, rubbing at his lip with a grimace, “we should definitely do that again when I’m not all bruised. Steve sat back up and tried to straighten himself out, clearing his throat out.

  “Yeah, yeah we should,” he said, voice pitched deeper than before, wow, Tony Stark had quite an effect on him. Tony could see it and grinned. “Listen, I’ve…I’ve got to get back home, I need to take a nap before the kids get home and I have to work tonight,” Steve regretting having to say it.

  “But we just got started,” Tony whined to him, he reached his hand over to lace it in with Steve. Steve looked down at their hands and smiled to Tony.

  “I know, I really wish I could stay with you too,” he brought their hands up to his mouth to kiss Tony’s; Tony grinned wider than he’d ever seen before. He could see the physical change in the man; a good change that he was certain came from his love. “Shall I drive you home?” Steve asked.

  “Can…can I help with dinner tonight?” he asked, Steve looked at him hopefully; maybe he was here to stay.

  “Yeah, yeah I don’t see why not,” Steve grinned, he swore that Tony couldn’t have been happier but he surprised Steve with a happy ‘yay’ and brought their hands to his mouth to kiss Steve’s hand this time. Steve chuckled and had to take his hand away to turn the car on, Tony whined playfully at him until he got his hand back. Steve chuckled and gave it to him, “Are you always this whiny?” Steve had to ask.

  “Only when I don’t get my way,” Tony grinned at his retort. Steve was going to say something that could easily be taken the wrong way into a sexual innuendo, but stopped himself. Tony didn’t seem to notice thankfully and Steve went about his way.

  “Can I cuddle with you while you sleep? Or is that too creepy or too quick?” Tony asked as they walked up the stairs hand in hand, Steve threw him a look.

  “Well…” he thought about it, “I suppose you could, oh, but the kids will be coming home soon,” he said as he opened the apartment door.

  “Are you ashamed?” he asked.

  “No…no, I don’t think so, I just never thought that I’d want to share quarters with Tony Stark is all,” Steve chuckled nervously, leading Tony back into the apartment. Steve had never really realized just how small the apartment was, especially after seeing Tony’s penthouse; it made him feel sad that he had just stuffed three kids in here with him.

  “Oh? Share?” Tony grinned, coming around to look at Steve but he stopped when he saw the saddened expression. “Are you alright?” Tony asked, bringing his hand up to cup at Steve’s jaw, Steve leaned into the embrace.

  “Yeah…yeah, I’m okay,” he whispered, pulling from the grasp as he moved into the living room, limp was a little better now. Tony followed him and stopped him, pulling him back into a warm hug. Steve suddenly bursts into tears; Tony was half expecting it though and gently pat Steve’s back, holding him tighter.

  “I feel like the luckiest man alive right now,” Tony had to say it out loud; Steve sputtered and laughed through his tears.

  “Why? Because a big ex-soldier is blubbering on your shoulder like a two year old?” Steve asked but never let go, Tony grinned and chuckled at him.

  “No, because I think I found what it means to have a family. I know I’ve known you less than twenty four hours now, but there’s just something inside of me that breaks when you mention the kids and how hard you guys have it here. I feel like I can understand the money deficiency—no, no, not because I have the same problem, mine is a little different you see, I’m love deficient and yeah, that sounds stupid now that I say it out loud, but I know what I’ve been missing this whole time. I came close to filling that gap once, her name was Pepper,” he smiled when he could feel Steve calm down, “she loved me and cared for me, but it didn’t end up that way. With you—with you I feel, I’m not sure I can put it to words. For a man who has all the words, I can sure come up empty handed sometimes. But seeing you with the kids and how they all accepted me without blame or anger, I felt like my heart could burst. And now you, crying on my shoulder, this is what couples do, isn’t it? Help each other out?” Tony asked, Steve’s response was to hold him tighter than he had before.

  “Yeah…I think so,” Steve whispered. They held onto each other, both needing what the other had to give them, Tony couldn’t help nuzzling his nose into Steve’s neck, Steve was just trying to stop the tears that seemed to be ever flowing. “There were nights that I swore that I was going to have to give the kids up, I can barely pay the rent as it is. I don’t want them to leave me now, it hasn’t been so long, but I love them,” Steve spoke softly. “I was just…just recalling a time when I loved someone else too, Bucky, he…he was really my first and I’ll never forget the support he gave me through the tough times growing up here. He’s the reason I’m here today,” he kissed at Tony’s neck.

  “Well, let me be the first to thank Bucky then,” Tony said, Steve had to smile.

  “Even if you are lost for words, you know what to say when it’s needed most,” Steve whispered to him.

  “I’m not a genius for nothing you know!” Tony pulled away first, framing Steve’s red and flushed cheeks to wipe some of the tears away.

  “Yeah,” Steve said absentmindedly before he leaned over to kiss Tony again. It was a chaste and simple kiss, but it was meaningful. “Come on, I need some sleep,” Steve said tiredly, the kids always zapped him of his limited energy.

  “No, no, you sleep on the outside so you don’t have to sleep on your leg,” Tony stopped him and situated them so that Tony was on the inside and the little spoon. Steve practically had to be under him for the both of them to fit, he didn’t mind so much though and completely enveloped himself around Tony, kissing the billionaire’s neck once more. “I like the simple life,” Tony murmured, drifting off into his own sleep. Steve huffed but laid his head down to rest as well.


	4. Pizza and a Job Offer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony buys pizza for dinner, Steve is ever grateful.

 “Shush, don’t wake Steve up, he has to work,” Natasha violently whispered to the two boys who were having fun , Clint had been giving Bruce piggy back rides up the stairs and through the hall.

  “I feel sorry for him,” Bruce leaned against his brother.

  “As you should, he does his best to take care of himself and us,” Natasha told them.

  “Do you really believe his thing about being lactose intolerant?” Clint asked, hoisting Bruce higher so he didn’t slide off.

  “Not one bit, he was drinking a glass of milk the other day,” Natasha told them, “but don’t let him know that you know. He sacrifices himself for us you know, it’s more than dad ever showed us. We’re lucky to have ended up with him,” she unlocked the apartment door and let the boys inside. Clint immediately went to the fridge to check if there were leftovers, there weren’t. Natasha went in to check on Steve but chuckled when she saw the two men cuddling on the couch.

  “Oooh, Steve and Tony sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I—mphf!” Clint started loudly but Natasha quickly covered his mouth with her hand. Steve had heard him though and stirred, opening an eye to look up to his kids.

  “Oh, you’re home early,” he looked over to the clock; he’d forgotten to set his alarm. He then realized that Tony was still sleeping heavily on him and tried to pull away, he was embarrassed about the kids finding him like this. He carefully extracted himself from the body; Tony woke just as he stood up.

  “Oh hey kids,” Tony waved to them, it was a rather limp wave but he was still half asleep.

  “How was school?” Steve asked them, Bruce came out of the room with his science exam.

  “Steve! Steve! Look!” Bruce ran to him and showed him the paper with an A++ on it.

  “Wow! That’s fantastic buddy, go show Tony,” Steve smiled to Tony who was looking very disheveled but awake at least and sitting up. Bruce quickly ran to the man to show him excitedly.

  “So…” Natasha started with that little smile of hers; Steve looked up to her as she flicked her eyes to Tony and back.

  “It’s a thing,” he shrugged to her.

  “Well, congratulations to you Steve,” She clapped him on the shoulder and moved in to kiss his cheek. She’d never shown that much affection towards him before, he couldn’t help the beaming smile he wore now.

  “Thanks, I just hope…I hope…” he looked back to Stark who had Bruce on the couch with him and was scribbling things out on the paper.

  “That he won’t leave like Peggy did?” she asked, the mention of Peggy stabbed him in the heart, “sorry,” she apologized and sat down with him at the table, she knew the whole backstory of Peggy. They were high school sweethearts, but he was deployed and she didn’t want to wait. He nodded all the same to her. “I get that you’ve had just as much loss as we have, but Tony seems to genuinely be interested in you, I think you should give it a shot if your heart feels that it’s right. Not because he’s a genius and a billionaire, and especially not because of us. You do not owe us anything Steve, we just want you to be happy,” she told him quietly, he smiled.

  “Thank you, that means a lot to me,” he nodded his head, grateful for her eternally.

  “You go get’em Tiger,” she chuckled and kissed his forehead before standing and going down to her room to disappear for a while. Clint had joined Bruce and Tony as they all picked out a movie to watch on the very small TV they had.

  “Not before you get your schoolwork done,” Steve stood up to join them, all three whined and pouted. Steve had to sigh, how could he resist those big eyes, especially on Bruce. “Fine, you can do your homework now and we can watch it during dinner, how does that sound?” he compromised, all three cheered and continued to pick out the movie that they wanted to watch. Tony found Brave and commented that he’d like to see it, so eventually they all agreed on it.

  “What are we having for dinner Steve?” Bruce asked.

  “Yeah, what’s on the menu tonight?” Clint joined in.

  “Oh, you know, I hadn’t quite thought that—“

  “Pizza! We’re having pizza!” Tony announced to them, the boys cheered again and Steve smiled at his boyfriend—he figured he could call him that by now, hell, it still hadn’t been twenty four hours yet but Steve was falling head over heels for this guy. He couldn’t explain how happy it made him to watch Tony interact with his kids, the guy was a natural, or at least he seemed to be. Steve figured that it was the very small children that Tony didn’t like, the middle aged ones were easy to manipulate which is why he took to the boys so well and they to him.

  “Pizza it is,” Steve nodded to confirm it. Tony left the two boys to their own to join Steve in the kitchen, bending over to kiss Steve nonchalantly which made Steve smirk. “Is this what it will be like to be with you?” he asked, placing his hand on Tony’s knee when he sat down, Tony withdrew his phone from his pocket.

  “Without the bruised face, yeah,” Tony winked.

  “I think I could deal with that,” Steve rubbed the leg affectionately.

  “You keep that up and I’m liable to jump you, you know,” Tony warned him which stilled Steve’s hand, a momentary look of embarrassment and horror. “Oh no, I did it again, didn’t I? Sorry, I meant that figuratively—Oh hello, I’d like to order three large pizza’s, one white, one pepperoni, and one half mushroom and half black olive,” Tony ordered the pizza.

  “Three?!” Steve whispered harshly, Tony held up a finger to quiet him, pushing it against Steve’s lips with a small smile. Steve kissed it and smile when Tony took it away.

  “Gayyyy,” Clint walked by, Tony switched his hand to slap Clint’s behind in retaliation. “Hey!” Clint whipped around fists up ready to hit.

  “Ohh, big guy huh? What’cha gonna do?” Tony taunted him, still on the phone. “Oh yes, address is—hold on,” he handed the phone off to Steve who completed the call as he watched Clint try to jab at Tony. Tony seemed to have enough experience with boxing so he blocked it and slapped Clint upside the head. Steve did his best to not laugh at Clint, no matter how amusing it was.

  “Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself, stop hitting—“ Tony laughed at Clint when he got him in a lock and had Clint punching himself lightly.

  “Hey! Lemme go!” Clint tore from his grip while Tony chuckled.

  “Then don’t call us gay, Steve deserves more respect from you, now get on your homework or no pizza for you!” he gently pushed him along. Clint stuck his tongue out at Tony, Tony did the same back. Clint grumbled and went back to his room. Bruce happily took out his homework and came to sit with Tony at the table to finish it. Steve had completed the call and hung up on the pizza lady and looked at Tony’s phone, it was like nothing he’d ever seen before. He had his own flip phone and he knew about smart phones of course, but the Stark phone was something of beauty, the blue that shimmered from between the plates on the phone piqued Steve’s interest as an artist. He turned the phone over to look at the back, more blue light coming from the insides and he turned the phone to try to see inside.

  “Like this,” Tony pressed on a panel, Steve blushed, he’d been caught admiring the tech. He awed when the panels moved away to show him the inner workings of the phone, there seemed to be a very tiny magnetic piece in the center whirling around, creating the electricity to power the phone. He knew Tony was watching him, but he couldn’t care at this moment, this little creation was whirring before him, in his hand, and he was entranced. “You like it?” Tony asked quietly. Steve finally tore his eyes from the phone and to his boyfriend; Steve smiled and nodded his head.

  “It’s like another tiny world inside of this thing!” Steve exclaimed, Tony smiled at his enthusiasm and took the phone from him, flipped it over and pressed a few buttons, slid his finger across the screen and then flipped it back to the backside. The color started to change like a disco light. “Wow!” Steve breathed out and practically giggled at the lightshow.

  “Comes in handy at night when you’re at parties,” Tony chuckled at him; he took the phone back and shut the panels.

  “Or in bed,” Steve added softly so Bruce didn’t hear but Tony certainly did, giving a wink to him.

  “You know it super soldier,” he pat Steve’s good knee. “Can I stay the night? I can watch the kids if you like,” Tony offered.

  “Yeah, can he Steve? Please, please!” Bruce piped up with a smile.

  “I think you should go home for tonight Tony, rest up and then we can see about tomorrow. It’s Sunday, so we’ll go to church in the morning and then you’ve got a Soccer Game,” Steve pointed to Bruce.

  “Oh yeah,” Bruce said unenthusiastically.

  “Can I come to the game?” Tony asked. Bruce looked so hopeful.

  “Can I talk to you outside for a moment?” Steve asked him, standing up and offering his hand. Tony followed.

  “He’s not in trouble, is he?” Bruce asked and Steve had to smile.

  “No, he’s not in trouble, we’ll be right back inside,” Steve ruffled his hair.

  “I’m totally in trouble, aren’t I?” Tony asked when they were outside the apartment.

  “I’m just a little confused on why you want to suddenly be with us all the time, you have obligations as well Tony. I don’t think you’re going about it the right way though. I know what it’s like to want to escape your life, but completely shutting out your real life is only going to make matters worse,” Steve leaned against the wall. Tony shuffled his feet and shrugged.

  “I like you guys,” he admitted.

  “I know you do,” Steve sighed and smiled, “I like you a lot too and I know the kids love you, but you can’t lead your life like this and completely leave Pepper in the dust. She’s a good woman and needs your support as well,” he pulled Tony to him and caught his chin in his fingers, making Tony look up at him. “I’d like to say that I need you as well, but I’m still not even sure where we stand on this whole thing,” he bent down to kiss the lips before him, “I think you just need to take a step back, alright?” Steve asked in the most polite way he could. He could see Tony thinking.

  “Can I still come to the soccer game?” he asked, Steve rolled his eyes playfully.

  “Since you mentioned it in front of Bruce, yes,” he wrapped his arms around his genius. “I’d love to have you around all the time, but considering this is already moving faster than I thought I’d ever do in my life, I think you should still go home tonight, the kids will be fine without you,” he tried to reassure him. Tony could only look at Steve’s lips though, luscious and red, he moved in to kiss in chastely, letting Steve decided when they could get a little more intimate. Steve didn’t let them go too far, he spotted the pizza guy coming up the stairs and let go of his boyfriend.

  “Are you Steve Rogers?” the man asked when he got up to them.

  “Yeah, he is, but I’m paying,” Tony smiled at the man and handed him his credit card while Steve took the pizzas. The man nodded, ringing out the card and grabbing Tony’s signature, Steve saw the 25% tip and grinned.

  “A whole 25% for walking up two flights of stairs?” Steve chuckled and bent down to give him a loud smooch against the lips.

  “25% for putting up with us,” Tony smirked and opened the apartment door.

  “Pizza is here,” Steve said through the apartment, the kids practically swarmed him before he could even put it down; even Natasha was excited for the pizza. But honestly, who wouldn’t be excited for pizza, Steve thought, then he remembered that some people were allergic to gluten and cheese; they probably wouldn’t be excited for pizza. He and Tony picked their pieces last, being courteous to the kids as the kids ran to huddle around the TV, taking mostly the couch and the floor.

  “Would you join me on the recliner?” Steve asked, a sly smile forming on his lips.

  “How could I turn an invitation like that, down?!” Tony grinned, “You’re okay if the kids see us?” he asked quieter.

  “Only if you behave,” Steve kissed the forehead and Tony grinned. Steve knew about Tony’s playful behavior, he hadn’t spent an entire day with him to not recognize it.

  “I’ll be good for you,” he whispered back, gently biting the tip of Steve’s ear, Steve shook his head and furrowed his brow down at Tony. Tony looked nervous for a moment, scared he’d done something wrong again but Steve started to smile and evil grin. Tony was going to ask what he was going to do but before he knew it, Steve a leaned over to bite Tony’s neck rather hard, the genius gave a yelp. All three kids looked back at them, the pair gave them a coy wave and the kids went back to what they were doing. Steve just leaned over again and started to kiss where he’d previously bitten, Tony bit his own lip to stave off his moan, his neck was one of his weak points as Steve quickly found out. “Possessive type, I like that,” Tony breathed out when Steve was done forming the hickey under the suit collar. Steve smiled and nuzzled his nose against Tony’s and pulled at Tony’s hip to follow him. Steve sat first and Tony followed, sitting on his lap, favoring the right side which was away from his wound. Clint made a face at them but the other two didn’t care, they were enthralled with the movie already.

                It was some time later, after the pizza was all done that Steve sighed deeply, the movie was almost over and he sorely wished he could watch the rest of it.

  “Have to go to work?” Tony asked quietly, noticing the shift in Steve.

  “Yeah, my leg is starting to fall asleep too,” he patted Tony’s hip, Tony slid off of him to stand.

  “Alright kids, say goodnight to Tony, I’ve got to get off to work,” Steve pulled in the recliner and stood up himself, having trouble with the pain that raced through his leg, but he managed.

  “Already?” Clint asked, he’d never admit that he was sad to see Tony go.

  “Yeah, but don’t you worry kids, I’ll be back around,” Tony tried to reassure them. Bruce got up to give Tony a hug, Tony returned it with a big squeeze. “See you around kid,” he ruffled his hair like Steve did. Bruce smiled up at him and Steve led him out of the apartment and down the car garage. “I really like that kid, he’s a good kid,” Tony shoved his hands in his pockets as they walked to the car.

  “Yeah, I’m pretty fond of him myself,” Steve chuckled and turned to lean against his car, pulling Tony against him and up into another kiss. Tony moaned against it this time, leaning full force onto Steve.

  “I’ll be around again,” Tony told him, pressing their foreheads together.

  “Yeah…I won’t try to get the kids hopes too high,” Steve said quietly, trying not to offend Tony, but it didn’t work. Tony pushed himself up to look at Steve.

  “You don’t think I’m coming back?” he asked.

  “I didn’t mean it like that—I just…I just have come to expect the worst is all…it’s the normal thing to do around here. You can ask anyone who lives in this building or anywhere around here,” tried to rectify it.

  “Steve, I’m not—not going to leave you and the kids. I know what my reputation is and yes, I can be a bit of a playboy but…Steve, I’ve known you for just about twenty for hours now and you’ve turned my world upside down!” he exclaimed, Steve had to laugh.

  “ _Your_ world has turned upside down?! What about mine?” he asked with a smile, “mine’s been turned upside down, shaken around, thrown to the left and somehow, you’re still here!” he said, leaning back down to taste Tony’s lips. “I’m glad I found you,” he whispered, kissing him again with fervor.

  “Come work for me?” Tony pulled away, one of those wild looks in his eyes again.

  “What?”

  “While we’re on the whole world turning upside down thing, come work for me. I can raise your pay, give you reasonable work hours, hell, you could stay home and work from there! I can provide you with everything you’d need—“

  “Wait, wait, wait, Tony, what would I do? I don’t know anything about science or…mechanics, or whatever it is you do,” Steve shook his head.

  “But you’re an artist and a damn good one—ah, ah, no, don’t shake your head. I saw those works that you did in there! They’re amazing! I want you to be one of my concept artists!” he grinned, Steve couldn’t believe his ears.

  “How are you real?” he asked to ask, Tony actually blushed at that and gave a little shrug.

  “What do you say? Work for me?” he asked again. Steve had to laugh wholeheartedly at this man he was holding, how did he ever end up so lucky?

  “Yes! Yes, what else is there to say? Yes!” he gave in to Tony’s eyes which had turned into puppy eyes.

  “You can start Monday then! Put in your two weeks in at your other job and you can get double pay for that time,” Tony offered him.

  “But Tony, I can’t work—“

  “Don’t worry hot stuff, it’s not actual work. The first week will be orientation, you’ll have half the hours to start with so you can come while the kids are at school and still get some sleep,” he explained, he could practically see the gears turning in Tony Stark’s mind.

  “Does that include a grand tour of Stark tower?” Steve asked, voice pitched lower at his attempt to be sexy, apparently it worked on Tony who’s eyes glazed over and he reached back to pull Steve into a kiss.

  “You can explore my tower whenever you damn well please,” he replied with his innuendo. Steve chuckled but kissed Tony feverishly like this was the last time he’d ever see him. Part of him still believed that this was all a dream, nothing like this could ever happen to him. “Stop it.”

  “What?”

  “You’re thinking too hard again,” Tony chuckled and pecked at his lips.

  “Yeah well, that kind of happens after twenty nine years of it,” he sighed and picked his hand up to gently caress Tony’s bruised face, Tony quickly pushed his head into the hand and the affection he was offered.

  “I wish I could sleep with you tonight, by that, I don’t mean sex, just to sleep with you, I feel like it’d be fantastic,” he whispered solemnly.

  “You’d like it until I tossed you off the bed with nightmares,” Steve sighed.

  “You suffer from them too?” Tony looked up at him, Steve had a questioning glance, wondering where Tony could have nightmares stem from. Tony sighed and hugged Steve again, “kidnappings when I was kid, not all of them were happy endings,” he said as if he read Steve’s mind, Steve wouldn’t put it past him to invent some sort of mind reading machine.

  “Oh,” Steve hugged him back and just breathed in the scent that was Tony Stark. “I have to go,” Steve started to push off the car, Tony whined but let go of him.

  “I promise I’ll be back,” Tony nodded to him.

  “I know,” Steve leaned to kiss him one last time before he went around to get into his small car and drive off to work. He looked at Tony in his rear view mirror, the man looked so small and defeated, it pained him to leave him. He drove to work, already yawning when he got into the rear of the building.


	5. Work, Shrapnel, and a Different Kind of Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve struggles with the pain in his leg, it's getting worse and worse as the rain pours on. Tony is there to help rescue him.

  “Hey Steve, how has your weekend been?” Sharon greeted him. He went up to her and pulled her into a big hug, “is everything alright? Are the kids fine?” she asked, suddenly worried at his affection but he pulled away with a big smile.

  “Yeah, everything is alright, I was offered a new job as a concept artist,” he told her.

  “Steve! That’s wonderful!” She threw her arms back around him to congratulate him. “Where at?” she asked and he grinned.

  “Stark Industries,” he giggled like a school girl, her jaw dropped.

  “No way! How did you land that job?!” she asked, his hand went up to rub his neck, she recognized that sign all too well.

  “I know the owner,” he shrugged with a wince, waiting for some sort of yelling or berating.

  “Pepper Potts?” she asked and he laughed.

  “Well yes, I did meet her too, but Tony Stark and I are…we’re sort of together,” he tried to explain to her. She knew a lot about his past, she was that one friend he could trust everything with and she knew how to keep a secret.

  “Like dating?” she asked and he nodded, “how did you guys meet? Was it some sort of fancy restaurant or something?” she pressed on, wanting to know more.

  “Oh um, I sort of saved him from being beaten to a pulp, though at the time I didn’t know who he was,” he shrugged and she laughed.

  “Oh Steve, don’t lie to me, you knew who it was!” she joked with him as they clocked in. “No but seriously, that’s one hell of a way to meet!” she nodded to him as they went to the lockers to put their things away.

  “He bought the kids pizza tonight and…he took me to breakfast this morning. I’ve never had so much food in one day,” he stopped and said quietly.

  “Oh Steve,” she quickly pulled him into a hug, knowing this mood as well. It was his I’m-so-grateful-that-all-I-want-to-do-is-cry mood, she smiled as he held her tightly. She knew how often he went without food to help the kids eat, she often tried to bring him snacks for the night but she wasn’t that well off either. She coaxed him through the mood, overjoyed that he found his Prince Charming.

  “So I assume you’re putting in your two weeks today?” she asked and he nodded, uncurling from her embrace to wipe his eyes, a smile creeping onto his face. “Don’t suppose Stark has anywhere to put a small town girl like me, does he?” she asked, hopeful.

  “I haven’t the slightest clue, but I’ll ask him,” he nodded to her with a grin.

  “You’re amazing Steven Rogers, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” she cupped his cheek.

  “That’s the third time I’ve been told that in the last twenty four hours,” he chuckled.

  “Good, you deserve it,” she nodded to him, “alright soldier boy, let’s get to work,” she pulled him along.

                Steve worked through the night, pain welling up more and more through the night suggesting that it was going to rain in the next twelve hours. No sooner than he got in his car, it started to pour cats and dogs, he grumbled about it but drove home. He had to pull out his cane from his car to make it up to the apartment in one piece, as soon as he was in, he went to the counter to grab the pills before he passed out. He looked to his left to stop, his heart fluttered when he saw the stack of waffles on the counter, covered in saran wrap with a note from Tony “breakfast is on me love, <3 Tony”. Steve picked up the note with shaking fingers to smile at it, his smile morphed into tears and then into pain when his leg flared up, the storm raged outside his window. Steve fell to the floor at a crack of thunder; he stayed that way until Natasha came out of her room thirteen minutes later. She rushed to his side and got him sitting up and then forced the pills down him and then to drink the water he’d gotten for himself. She was cooing to him and petting his hair to soothe him down but he couldn’t hear her, he was off in pain land.

  “Steve, Steve, come out of it man, come on!” Natasha was slapping his face, she watched his eyes go in and out of focus, suddenly a particularly loud bout of thunder clapped over Brooklyn and Steve clenched into a ball, screaming in fright. Natasha tried to calm him down, afraid that he was going to scare the boys. “Steve! Steve! It’s okay! You’re home!” she covered him with her body and tried to break him of the memories that flowed before his eyes.

  “I’m so sorry Bucky, I’m sorry,” he balled his eyes out, screaming again at the next sign of thunder. Steve was hugging his good knee to his chest; she wasn’t even making a dent in his psychotic state.

 “Stark, Stark could help!” She stood up and looked for a phone, she knew Steve had a phone; maybe his number was in there. She dug through Steve’s pockets, apologizing to the soldier and then opened it, praying that Tony was smart enough to—yes, there it was! She quickly dialed the number and prayed it was the right one.

  “Couldn’t stay away—“

  “Can it Stark!” she interrupted him.

  “Natasha?” he asked.

  “Yeah, hey, I need your help. Do you know anything about PTSD and flashbacks?” she asked him quick.

  “Yeah, why, what’s wrong?” he asked, she could hear him rustling around, presumably already readying himself.

  “Steve’s gone into some sort of shock and is sitting on the floor in pain, I—I don’t know what to do. He screams at the thunder, I don’t want to wake the boys,” she told him, hand fisting in her red hair.

  “Sit tight, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” he told her, “try to keep his senses overloaded, press a piece of ice into his hand or somewhere on his skin. Do you have any lemon or something really strong that he can bite? Just take his mind off the thunder and the pain. He took the Tylenol, right?” he instructed her.

  “Okay, I can do that, and yes, but it still takes about twenty minutes for them to kick in,” she ran to the freezer to look for the ice.

  “Alright, you do that and I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?” he nodded, she agreed and they both hung up. She grabbed an ice cube and quickly pressed it to his face; she just noticed the purple bloom of a bruise on his jaw from the other night. Steve jerked at the ice but still remained clenched, crying and sobbing. She moved the ice to his neck where he started to shiver; she let the ice fall down his shirt front for good measure and went to search the fridge for anything strong, anything at all.

  “Damnit, why are we so poor?!” she slammed the fridge which made Steve jump. The thunder clapped again, Steve pressed his hands over his ears.

  “Stop!” he screamed again, still crying. Natasha felt like she was beaten, she felt to the floor and hugged Steve to her, letting her own tears go with sympathy for him. She couldn’t imagine what had happened for a strong man like Steve Rogers to be reduced to a blubbering child. It felt like forever until Tony finally arrived, the door was locked so he knocked loudly. Natasha sprinted to the door, trying to cover her tears and opened the door to let Tony in. Tony made sure she was alright first before going to his boyfriend, he had a couple weapons of his own that he brought along with him, she smile at the lemon.

  “Alright, you get this music going, it’s classical, he should like it,” he gave her the music player and the head phones while he got to cutting the lemon.

  “Steve hates lemon,” she mumbled.

  “Good, the more he dislikes it, the better,” he said back, he went to the spice rack to pick out some cinnamon to be ready. The thunder rolled and Steve screamed on cue, this time he sat up to yell at the rolling clouds above them. Tony took the opportunity to jam the lemon piece into his mouth. Steve reeled at the taste and Natasha quickly put the headphones over his head and pressed play on the music. Unfortunately, Steve reeled so hard that he hit his head against the cupboard handle and promptly passed out. Tony looked to Natasha. “That’s one way I suppose,” he quickly moved Steve to lay on the ground, pushing him onto his right side in case he decided he wanted to vomit.

  “Hey, he’s bleeding,” Natasha pointed to the leg, Tony groaned.

  “I thought we were doing well…” he grumbled. “Alright, I’m going to take his pants off, can you get a couple of towels, some peroxide and some gauze and wrap if you have it, just in case. I hope it’s just a cut, but we’ll see,” he told her. She nodded and sprung up to the bathroom. Tony grumbled about taking Steve’s pants off and it was just over twenty four hours now, he took no pleasure in yanking the pants down to Steve’s ankles; though he did have to grin at the briefs he wore.

  “Fuck,” he grumbled when he saw the source of the bleeding, it looked like some sort of metal piece had been working its way out of Steve’s body, the shrapnel, from the war. Tony cursed it and poked at it to see how deep it was, it was a good sized piece, it seemed to be rather long, maybe an inch, only a centimeter was showing from the skin that it’d just ripped through in the past couple hours. No wonder Steve’s limp had gotten worse. Natasha quickly came back with the items he asked for.

  “Good, do you have any tweezers and gloves I can wear?” he asked her, she nodded and went to get more for him. She came back with the desired goods. “Alright, this might get a little bloody,” he warned her.

  “I’m a woman, I bleed monthly,” she reminded him, he shrugged and snapped the gloves on.

  “Be prepared to hold him down if he happens to wake up during this,” he instructed her, she moved around opposite of him, he was at Steve’s rear, closest to the shrapnel.

  “Is that metal?” she asked.

  “Yeah, shrapnel, the good majority of the shrapnel is left in the body since a lot of it can just be debris like glass, wood, plant matter, metal…most of it is not harmless but sometimes, occasionally you get that one nasty fucker—don’t tell Steve I said that,” he told her, she smiled to him.

  “How do you know so much about this?” she asked as he worked on the slender piece of metal, gently wiggling it from it’s confines.

  “I…I have shrapnel left over in my chest from one of my kidnappings,” he told her reluctantly.

  “Oh,” she said, Steve started to stir and he gave her the signal to hold him down.

  “Hey, what’s going on down here?” Clint came out of the room.

  “Clint, keep Bruce in the room, alright?” Tony instructed him, Clint froze when he saw the blood seeping from Steve’s leg, he started to back away. “Did you hear me Clint?” Tony looked up at him, he felt terrible for the kid but Clint nodded and ran back to the room to keep Bruce away.

  “I don’t know if I can hold him if he gains full consciousness,” Natasha told him truthfully.

  “Just do your best and hope I’m done by the time that happens,” he nodded to her and worked as fast as he could. Soon, the metal piece was jimmied out of the leg, lots of blood started to spout and he hoped to god that he didn’t hit an artery in the leg with how much blood there was. He worked quickly, he grabbed the hydrogen peroxide and poured it on the wound instead of dabbing it, it’d be useless since there was so much blood. That was when Steve woke up screaming in pain.

  “Hey, hey, it’s okay buddy, I’m here for you,” Tony tried to reassure him, working quick as he used the towel to wipe away the excess blood and get the gauze pad over the wound, he could see at least three more pieces working their way out of Steve’s brutally scarred leg. “Here, keep the pressure here,” he told Nat, she quickly held her hand there as Tony lifted the leg to clean off the excess blood for now. He took the bandage wrap and quickly started to wrap it up tightly, sighing heavily when he tapped it shut and to Steve’s leg, gently placing it back down.

  “What…what’s going on?” Steve slurred, barely awake. Natasha took the headphones off his head with Tony’s permission. Tony took Steve’s shoes off and took the rest of the pants off; they were of no use now.

  “Come on, let’s get him on the couch,” Tony told Nat as he finished cleaning the blood and hydrogen peroxide off of Steve’s half bare body. He took the head and she took the legs, they heaved him up together and set him gently on the couch, Tony tucked the blanket around him and kissed the forehead before he went back to the kitchen to clean up the rest of the mess. Natasha helped him, washing out as much blood from the towels as she could before they went into the laundry hamper.

  “Hey, boys, you okay?” Tony rapped his knuckles on their door, Clint opened it a crack to see who it was.

  “Is he okay?” he asked quietly and Tony nodded.

  “He’s sleeping now, why don’t you two come out and have some breakfast, okay?” he smiled to them, Clint nodded and eased himself out first, looking around for any sign of Steve’s mess. He spotted the waffles and immediately went to them. Bruce came out next, looking timid and scared.

  “Steve okay?” he asked, so innocent and scared. Tony awed at him and scooped down to pick him up and hold him.

  “Yeah, Steve is okay,” he whispered and held the kid tightly to him to comfort the trembling child. Tony brought him over to the table and went to sit him down but Bruce held tightly. “Do you want to see Steve?” he asked, Bruce nodded through the tears leaking out onto Tony’s shoulder. He brought the kid over to Steve who was barely awake himself; Bruce looked down and slid off Tony to give Steve a hug. Tony patted the boy’s hair and shooed him back to the kitchen to eat his breakfast. Bruce went but not without a last look to Steve’s half-awake form. Natasha corralled the kids and made them eat. Tony looked down at Steve and sat on the couch with him. “Hey big guy,” he whispered to him, Steve was struggling to keep awake.

 “Hey,” he whispered back, “what happened? All I remember was the pain…” he shifted under the blankets, “where did my pants go?” he asked and Tony had to chuckle at him.

  “You’ve got your priorities set alright Rogers,” Tony patted the firm chest below him. “You had some shrapnel trying to come out, caused a big wound but I predict you’ll be alright. You gave the kids a bit of a fright, but they’ll bounce back when they see you’re okay,” he assured him, practically petting the chest.

  “Leg hurts,” Steve grumbled.

  “I know darling, it will, get some rest, I’ll care for the kids,” Tony bent down to gently kiss Steve’s lips as the wounded soldier slipped into unconsciousness again.

                Tony did his best to keep the kids preoccupied; it was difficult though when he never really had experience taking care of kids before. He was thankful that Natasha helped him along. The three decided that they wanted to go to church but Tony scoffed at the idea.

  “The church will be lit on fire before I set foot in there,” Tony shook his head when the kids begging him to go. “What if Steve wakes up while we’re gone? Someone should be here with him,” he looked back to the living room.

  “I can stay with him, I was never much of a god-fearing person,” Natasha suggested.

  “Can we please? For Steve’s sake, he’d want us to go,” Clint asked, that was when Tony was worried for them. In just two months, Steve meant more to them than he could fathom, it hurt his heart again and so he rubbed at it to calm the fluttering muscles.

  “Fine, but I’m not doing any sort of singing or anything like that, okay?” Tony compromised with them, Clint and Bruce smiled widely at him. “Go on, get dressed,” he pointed to their room.

  “You’re a noble man Tony Stark,” Natasha told him, he looked up to her but couldn’t agree.

  “This is…this is the most good I’ve done for someone in a…a very long time,” he said quietly, looking down at his hands. She came around pat his shoulder and leaned down to kiss his cheek affectionately.

  “There’s no better time to start than the present,” she smiled to him, he nodded. “Thanks for coming to save me,” she looked away, her turn to feel uncomfortable.

  “Any time,” he nodded. She gave one last nod before going to the living room to stay with Steve. Tony stood up and used the bathroom before they had to go, he couldn’t get it through his head that he was actually to church. He hadn’t been to church in years, literally years. He shivered in anticipation as he finished in the bathroom, washing his hands. He stopped to look at his face, he’d done some miraculous healing time, the swelling had gone down completely but the bruises were still there plus one little cut on the right side of his face above his black eye. He at least felt a little more normal now that his face wasn’t so tight, he was glad that his lip was doing the fastest heal though, that meant more time kissing Steve. Kissing Steve, he mused and ghosted a finger over his lips; he had to stop himself before he had to spend another couple minutes in there just jerking off to Steve Rogers’s kiss. He licked his lips and then smacked them together, trying to get out of his own head. He took in a deep breath before leaving the bathroom, making sure that everything was in order, including his pants front.

  “Is everyone ready?” he asked, Bruce was sitting pretty at the table with his little church suit on and drinking up some water.

  “Clint is still getting his shoes on,” Bruce motioned towards their room.

  “Need any help Clint?” Tony called down the hall, peaking into the room; Clint was sitting on his bed and wiping his face. “Hey little man, you okay?” Tony went in to sit next to him. Clint tried to hide his face but Tony smiled at him. “Did Steve scare you?” he asked, putting his arm around the thin teenager’s shoulders. Clint nodded and allowed himself to be pulled into a hug, Tony wrapped both arms around him to comfort him. “It’s going to take more than just a piece of shrapnel to take that guy down, you hear? He isn’t going anywhere any time soon,” he rubbed his back, Clint cried on his shoulder. “He isn’t going to leave you,” he whispered, “and it’s okay to be scared,” he made sure that Clint knew. “It’s not going to make you unmanly or anything,” he said and Clint chuckled, pulling away to wipe his face.

  “But you weren’t scared,” he commented.

  “Maybe on the outside, but inside I was freaking out! I don’t do well with blood,” Tony shivered and held his arms to his chest. “I wake up every day, afraid, that I’m not at home or safe. I’ve had my own trauma in my life time which involves these pretty pieces of shrapnel in my own chest,” he rubbed at his heart again.

  “What happened?” Clint asked, staring at Tony with wonder.

  “I…I was kidnapped as usual. I thought it was the normal, hold for ransom, get their money, and release me. But these guys, they were bad, they wanted to kill me,” he started; Bruce peaked into the room and came to sit next to Tony on his other side. Tony put his arm around Bruce to hold him tight. “I realized that, they were real bad to me, hurt me. I’m lucky to be alive after what they did to me; I ended up making a bomb from some spare random parts and explosives I found while I was trying to escape. Well, I got the bad guys, but I got myself too,” he put his arm around Clint to pull him close as well.

  “Don’t worry, Steve will chase the bad guys away,” Bruce said, Tony felt like his heart wanted to jump out of his chest and do the Can-Can, he smiled down to Bruce and kissed the messy top and then to Clint’s blonde hair to kiss him as well. Clint squirmed at it but stayed put.

  “Steve isn’t going anywhere,” he reassured them, rubbing their suited arms and holding them tightly.

  “We hope that you won’t either,” Clint told him quietly. Tony swear that he wanted to rip his heart out and give it to this little dysfunctional family, he could barely contain it in his chest anyway with all the damn fluttering and jumping and twisting it was doing.

  “If you want me to stay, then I’ll stay,” he whispered to them, giving each of them a kiss once more before they got up. “Ready for church?” he asked, Bruce slipped his hand in Tony’s, Tony smiled down to him and led the kids out of their room. “Nat, will you be alright?” he checked on her first, she was silently sitting on the recliner, watching Steve sleep. She looked up to him with that small smile and nodded. “Alright, we’ll be back,” he told her before he led the kids out of the apartment.

                Clint and Bruce led Tony down the block to their small church. Tony couldn’t even pay attention to the sermon; he was focusing too much on either boy who was pressed against him under each wing. This is what it was like to have a family, he thought. If it was, then he wanted to keep it. Tony did the small things he had to; standing up and sitting down, kneeling when the kids would kneel. He let them go up to receive the host, he knew too well that he couldn’t receive that holy stuff, he was never a real Christian and had no real desire to believe in any kind of God, besides, he had enough to focus on with integrating his life to his new found family. He couldn’t wait to get home and make sure that Steve was okay though; the kids knew it and wanted the same. The trio raced home to find Steve sitting up and Natasha giving him some water.

  “Hey,” Tony said weakly, Steve smiled at him, he looked exhausted but smiled to the two boy’s who raced over to him and crawled onto the couch to hug him tightly.

  “Hey guys, miss me?” Steve joked with them, blushing at all the affection that he was receiving.

  “Don’t go away Steve,” Bruce begged him, Steve dropped his smile at that, he could see just how much he meant to this kids now.

  “I won’t, I promise I won’t go away,” Steve held to them tightly. Natasha got up to usher the boys to their room to give the couple their space. Tony thanked Natasha quietly and crawled onto the couch next to Steve. “You look nice today,” Steve patted the suit pant leg.

  “Thanks, you’re looking better now,” Tony grinned.

  “Thank you,” Steve looked to him, it was a gaze that Tony figured he could stare into for ages, there was so much love and warmth there. If he had a love meter then it would surely be bursting out the top by now with how much love Steve was showing him.

  “How does it feel?” Tony asked, trying to pull the blanket back to take a look at it. Steve stopped him, a blush riding across his face and down his neck. “At ease soldier, just want to take a look at the wound,” he smiled to him, just picking up the hem of the blanket to look at the thigh. Tony frowned at the bloodstained bandage. “That’s going to need a new bandage,” Tony put the blanket back down, glad the blood hadn’t spread to the blanket at least since it was Steve’s only one. “Think you can get to the bathroom?” Tony looked over his shoulder to the kitchen and hallway.

  “Yeah, I think so,” Steve nodded. Tony stood first and allowed himself to be used as a crutch; Steve was actually walking fairly well, a weak moment here and there, kept Tony under his arm to lead him. Steve leaned against the counter, blanket still about his waist as Tony searched through the thin cabinet for another piece of gauze and some more wrap, he found the last of the two and hoped that Steve had stopped bleeding by now. He found some antibiotic ointment and figured that he should put that on just in case.

  “Alright, so, you know that you’re going to need to drop the blanket, right?” Tony chuckled at him. Steve just furrowed his brow and moved the blanket around so that the slit was at his leg, he just pulled it back far enough so Tony could get at the leg. Tony never rolled his eyes so exaggeratedly before, he was glad to see Steve give a smile though. “I’ve already seen your tighty-whitey’s hun,” Tony went up to steal a kiss from him. Steve wanted to retort but he had nothing good to say.

  “So I suppose this makes us even then, a life for a life?” Steve asked as he watched Tony set out the equipment he needed.

  “If you want to look at that way, I suppose so,” Tony smiled, trying to ignore the heat in his pants, he was going to be kneeling in front of his soldier and was sad that he couldn’t help Steve get off. “Alright, you’re going to have to at least spread them pretty legs, I can’t wind the bandage if you don’t,” Tony smirked at him, “unless you want me to bandage them together,” he added softer, he could see Steve swallow at that, mouth hung open even so slightly. “Would you enjoy that? Legs tied together so you couldn’t move,” Tony whispered, inching closer to Steve’s lips. Steve let out a very quiet but very breathy moan, accepting Tony’s lips against his. Tony wrapped a hand around Steve’s neck, threading fingers into the dark blonde hair to bring him closer. Steve wrapped his hands around Tony’s hips but suddenly he was losing heat, Tony pulled away with a sudden frightful look on his face.

  “I’m so sorry Steve, I didn’t mean—“ he started, apologizing for moving too quickly but he was cut off when Steve grabbed Tony’s neck and pulled him back in for the kiss. Tony melted at the strong hands in his hair, kneading and pulling ever so slightly. Tony tried to be good for Steve, he really did, but when he heard Steve’s quietly moan when their tongues flipped, he couldn’t help it; he full on attacked Steve complete with a rut of his hips against Steve’s barely clothed ones. “Steve I—“ he tried again but Steve shut him up with another kiss, Tony figured that he was going to like being with Steve, they were rather similar when it came down to it; or rather, they were both just starving for love.

                Tony let Steve lead for a few minutes, he could feel his lips tingle with Steve’s on them, their tongues sliding and thrusting into the others’ mouth. Steve moaned again and Tony couldn’t take too much more of it, he reached down to rip away the blanket that Steve was still holding up, Steve made a sound of protest but Tony quickly sunk to his knees, looking up at Steve with a question, making sure that he was okay with this. Tony had never delved to underwear so quickly as to when Steve gave him a little nod, encouraging him to continue.

  “My god—“ Tony started but Steve quickly shushed him, looking to the door nervously, Tony grinned at him and pressed his lips to the bulge that had shown itself under the underwear. Steve’s head tipped back at the first press of lips to his erection, he was already breathing heavy with only a few kisses from Tony, then Tony’s tongue; lapping at him through his underwear.

  “Tony,” Steve grumbled, looking back down, Tony looked up at him through lashes and gave one last kiss to the clothed erection before he pulled the briefs down just enough to let Steve out, he decided that wasn’t enough though and wanted to see him all, so the underwear went down to Steve’s ankle. Tony wasted no time in getting to the point of being on his knees in front of Steve. He pushed his tongue against the larger cock, moaning himself at the salted tip, pressing his tongue against and inside Steve’s slit. Steve’s hand came down to clench at Tony’s shoulder when he lapped at the underside of the head, pulling the foreskin away to delve deeper. Steve could barely contain himself at the teasing, Tony could read him though and obliged his super soldier savior, taking Steve in his mouth to suck on him and bob his head up and down the first couple inches. If Tony had to guestimate on how large Steve was, he’d have to go with gigantic, probably a good eleven inches—nope, nope, make that twelve, he was sure. Tony was going to have to get out the ruler later to prove it.

  “Tony—Tony, I’m not going—not going to last too—too long,” Steve sputtered out in a whisper, afraid the kids were outside the hall, but Tony’s lips, they were oh, so sinful. Tony looked up at him again and in an instant, completely swallowed all of Steve, going right past his uvula and down his throat. Steve had to buckle forward, both hands bracing on Tony’s slender figure, he let out a shocked groan, he didn’t even have a choice, he came right there and then without warning. He did his best to not trap Tony between his doubled over body, Tony seemed to be doing his own thing though, humming as he pulled over enough to allow himself to breathe, and then swallowing. Oh god, was he swallowing, Steve felt completely spent, what little energy he had was now stripped from him, even his legs were shaking. Steve righted himself and Tony pulled off him, he was red with lack of oxygen, but otherwise unscathed.

 “Wow,” Steve had to say, panting as Tony returned his underwear to their original position.

  “Ye—“ Tony coughed and cleared his throat, “yeah, yeah, that was pretty good if I do say so myself,” he chuckled, patting and petting at Steve’s thighs. He remembered his original job and went to removing the bandages, the bleeding had definitely slowed down but it wasn’t completely done just yet. “I hope I didn’t hit an artery,” he voiced his concern as he cleaned the wound out with more hydrogen peroxide; Steve winced but didn’t pull away.

  “Huh?” Steve asked, still half out of it from his orgasm.

  “The artery, I hope I didn’t hit one when I pulled the shrapnel out,” Tony said, dabbing the antibiotic ointment onto the wound and started the bandaging process again, this time a little looser, Steve was able to help gauge the tightness now and what felt right to him.

  “Oh, no, you didn’t. I’d still be bleeding really badly if you did,” Steve reassured him. Tony stood up after dusting his knees off and leaned against Steve.

  “So…how are you?” Tony asked, reaching behind him to grab a comb and help straighten Steve’s dark blonde hair out.

  “Honestly? I feel like my legs are going to give out any second from sensory overload,” Steve blushed heavily, a smile and a duck of his head.

  “That good, huh?” Tony asked, combing the hair forward a bit so that he could comb the front over towards the back and side so there was a nice little flip to it.

  “It’s been a while,” Steve nodded. “You’re a terrible influence Mr. Stark,” Steve whispered, wrapping his arms around Tony’s waist to pull him in for a kiss. Tony had to smile at him though.

  “You didn’t need the influence Mr. Rogers, just a little push,” he whispered back and accepted the kiss, cupping Steve’s neck and cheeks, trying not to mess up the good job he’d done on Steve’s hair. Steve froze at the knock on the door.

  “You boys almost done in there?” Natasha asked, “other people have to pee to you know,” she added. Tony grinned and bent to pick up the blanket for Steve to wrap around himself. Tony opened the door as he threw away the wrappers for the gauze and wrap. Natasha was standing with her arms folded. Steve limped out first and Tony caught up to allow himself to be used as a crutch again, leading him out to the living room after Steve apologized to Natasha. Tony sat Steve back on the couch and let him rest after standing so long.

  “So, are you still going to bring Bruce to his soccer game? I can handle it if you can’t,” Tony offered.

  “Oh, while you were in the bathroom, Mr. Reynolds called off the game on the account of the rain, it’s rescheduled for next Saturday,” Natasha called him before she went back to the bathroom.

  “Oh, I guess that takes care of that then,” Tony shrugged to him. Steve flinched at the thunder rolling over head and grumbled to himself about it. “Hey, it’s okay you know, to be scared,” Tony brought a hand up to caress Steve’s cheek, the stubble growing quickly.

  “I know, but…it’s difficult when you’re the one who has to be brave,” he said quietly, ashamed of himself.

  “We all have our issues Steve,” Tony tried to make him feel better, “hell, I have issues Steve and I can’t guarantee that I won’t one day explode on you—figuratively of course. Pepper always described me as a ticking time bomb, waiting for the day when something just pushed me the wrong way. It’s been a long time since she’s called me that, I live in fear that I’m going to explode on the wrong people and hurt someone I care about,” he let his hand slip back down and then to rub at his aching chest again.

  “Why do you keep doing that?” Steve asked, motioning to his hand.

  “Do what?” Tony asked, seemingly oblivious.

  “Rub your chest like that, you do it whenever you get emotional,” Steve noted.

  “Oh…I don’t really know. I suppose it could just be my heart fluttering out of control,” he smirked, “it could also be the shrapnel I caught in the chest on my last kidnapping. I…I made a bomb to get away, I got the bad guys, but I also got myself,” he retold the story as he unbutton his dress shirt until he could pull away the undershirt to expose the metal plates imbedded in his chest from the accident. Steve was a tactile man and reached to touch it, but then he remembered personal space and decided against it. “it’s okay, it doesn’t hurt. It tingles every now and then, but it’s not bad,” Tony urged him and so Steve complied. He traced around the metal bits and plates that formed a blast zone around his heart, the metal was warm to the touch, so much that it surprised Steve, but then again, this was metal that was plunged into a human’s body; it should be conducting heat very well.

  “If it wasn’t life threatening, I’d say it’s beautiful,” Steve told him, taking his fingers away so Tony could button his shirt again.

  “You’re the first person to view it was beautiful,” Tony stopped to observe Steve, this man before him, a great man. Tony didn’t deserve such a man, yet here he was.

  “Well,” Steve chuckled, “That’s what happens when you get stuck in the art world for so long, you can find beauty in anything twisted and ugly, even as ugly as war,” Steve looked into Tony’s eyes, Tony returned the look, leaning forward to gently kiss Steve’s lips, savoring their taste.

  “Hey, do you want to go to the movies?” Tony pulled away with the idea.

  “I—I don’t really…do movies, not in the theater anyway,” Steve admitted to him, rubbing at Tony’s leg next to his.

  “Why not?” Tony asked, the thunder sounded again, causing Steve to give a full body shiver as he closed his eyes with the sound. “Oh, loud noises?” Tony answered his own question and Steve nodded. “I’m sorry,” he added.

  “It’s okay…it’s not your fault after all,” Steve smiled but lost it when Tony’s face dropped, becoming very solemn.

  “It is my fault Steve,” he looked up at his boyfriend, “it’s always my fault.”

  “Tony, how could you—“

  “My company, we make weapons and…and that’s what killed my best friend. He was…he was out defending me and I got him killed,” Tony looked to Steve, tears welling.

  “I’m sorry Tony,” Steve reached his arms around Tony to hug him tightly.

  “It was always my fault, I tried to stop weapons production after that, but they wouldn’t listen to me—they wouldn’t. And then _he_ came up to me and had the gall to try to kill me!” Tony growled in Steve’s embrace. “He, Stane, I thought of him like a father you know, he tried to kill me! He’s still trying to kill me!” Tony said, Steve broke his embrace to observe Tony. “You think you’re the only one messed up in this relationship?” Tony asked and Steve broke a smile.

  “Is that what this is? A relationship?” he chuckled which made Tony smile.

  “I think we sealed it back there in the bathroom,” he smiled and wiped his tears.

  “I’m glad we’re not perfect,” Steve said and pulled him to kiss Tony’s temple with love.


	6. A Suit, a Dinner, and a House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony treats the kids and Steve each with their own gifts. Steve loves Tony.

The next two weeks were an adjustment period for Steve, he sure it was for Tony and the kids too; suddenly having a genius billionaire around the apartment certainly changed things. Tony had brought over little gifts one day, shoes for the kids and some other items like a microscope and some slides for Bruce. Tony gave Natasha some expensive perfumes and an indestructible dagger after learning about her love for self-defense. Steve protested against the weapon being in the house, but Natasha reassured him that she was very capable with the instrument; he eventually gave up on it. Clint had been talking non-stop about archery since they’d watched the movie Brave; he wanted to learn so badly, so Tony made him a bow and arrows and promised to get him into archery lessons if he did well on his end of year exams.

                Steve sighed happily as he watched his family in the living room while he stood at the kitchen, just finishing up the dishes and now drinking his glass of water deeply. He smiled with the joy that their kids had from the gifts, it was like a Christmas that he never would have been able to give them when it came that time of year. Tony looked up to him in the kitchen; Tony always knew when Steve was looking, so Steve gave him a smile and Tony returned it, knowing why Steve was smiling.

  “I saved your gift for last,” Tony whispered to him when they were alone half an hour later, the kids were out. Bruce and Clint went to visit Peter and Wade up on the fifth floor and Natasha was out with her set of Assassin girls. Tony had told them that the couple was going out that night, leftover meatloaf and freshly steamed vegetables were in the fridge for them if they were hungry.

  “Tony,” Steve asked, holding his partner affectionately as they stood in the kitchen, Steve still pressed against the countertop. “You know you didn’t have to,” he bent to kiss the healed lips, Tony looked much more human now that his bruises had faded and everything was healed.

  “I knew you’d say that,” Tony grinned, kissing back between his sentences. “I want to take you out tonight for dinner, nothing fancy fancy, just dinner,” he wasn’t going to reveal what he wanted to do afterwards just yet, they’d gotten far enough with blow-jobs and helping each other off, Tony wanted the night to be special. He wasn’t going to ask Steve to marry him or anything that life changing, but he wanted to be able to remember the night for a long time.

  “Is that all?” Steve asked with a smirk.

  “Of course not, I also bought you that suit you’d been admiring when we got you fitted,” Tony grinned, pulling away to lead him to Natasha’s room where he’d been hiding it with Nat’s permission of course.

  “Tony, you didn’t…” Steve stared at the suit hanging there on her tiny closet door.

  “Do you like it?” Tony asked, tentative. Steve nodded and looked to his boyfriend, another mist swelling in his eyes. “Aw Steve,” Tony grinned and pulled him into a hug.

  “I’m sorry! I just—“ Steve cried on his shoulder, “one day, one day I’ll believe this is all real,” he held Tony tightly, the billionaire didn’t mind the squeezing, he was just as grateful to Steve, as Steve was to him.

  “It’s alright big guy, I understand,” he whispered back, caressing him gently.

  “I don’t think I can say thank you enough,” Steve had his forehead pressed against Tony’s shoulder so he could still breathe.

  “Likewise,” Tony said to him, kissing the exposed neck to him. “Come on, I’m starving!” Tony pulled away only so he could frame Steve’s reddened face and kiss it. Steve kissed him back like a starving lover, Tony reciprocated; happy to be on the receiving end of such an intense kiss. Steve tried to pull him closer but only succeeded in pushing them back a little ways until Tony bumped into Natasha’s twin sized bed. “Steve—Steve, dinner first,” Tony hated pulling away, his stomach rumbling was much more in need of satiation than his libido was.

  “Thought you liked sex before food though,” Steve grinned and mused.

  “Not when I haven’t eaten all day!” he reminded him, Steve just chuckled and pulled Tony along to get to the dinner reservations Tony had. It was a fancy restaurant, not according to Tony, but to Steve it was.

  “I’ll never get used to these restaurants either,” Steve admitted to him, looking over the menu.

  “You don’t have to,” Tony put his menu down to look at Steve, Steve started to frown, taking it the wrong way, “oh no, I just meant, it’s okay if you don’t like these places!” Tony corrected himself, Steve gave a big nod, appreciating the clarification, “we can always go someplace else if you want,” he continued and shivered when Steve’s eyes looked him up and down, Tony knew exactly where he wanted to go, but Tony was still hungry. “A place that involves food, I mean,” he clarified once more and Steve just gave a little smirk. Steve was going to say something but seemingly decided against it, Tony urged him to tell him what it was.

  “I…I was going to say that,” he started and then dropped his voice to a whisper, leaning to Tony’s ear, “you weren’t going to be hungry when I was through with you,” he told him and kissed his cheek to seal it. Tony’s look told him everything.

  “You’re going to be the death of me Steve Rogers!” he exclaimed, slumping into the booth that they were sitting at, Steve chuckled and patted Tony’s leg under the table. Tony grumbled at the touch on his leg, it was creeping towards the inseam of his pants and then upwards. “Steve,” Tony hissed at him, “please babe, I’m so hungry,” Tony grabbed a hold of his hand to keep it away from the desired destination.

  “You could have grabbed something at home,” Steve remarked sidelong, lacing his fingers in with Tony’s.

  “I know, but I wanted to make it special tonight, dinner first, sex after,” he pulled himself back up into sitting, still holding onto Steve’s hand for dear life.

  “And where exactly did you have in mind? I hope not at the apartment, the kids might pop in,” Steve just watched Tony squirm now that he was turned on but still starving.

  “Oh don’t you worry your pretty little face off, I told the kids we were going to be out for the night, but I don’t want you at the apartment. I want to show you my house,” Tony smiled.

  “But I already saw—“

  “No, you saw my penthouse. I want to take you to my real house, like where I sleep-house…when I’m not with you,” Tony grinned now, Steve nodded.

  “I see, I wasn’t aware that you had a home other than mine,” Steve joked and kissed the clean shaven cheek. Tony stared at him with what he’d just said, it was another one of those moments where his heart fluttered uncontrollably, instinctively he let go of Steve’s hand to rub at his chest. Steve grinned at the movement and put his arm around Tony, and kissed him again, affectionately. “You like that, huh? Our home,” Steve said again, he could almost feel the flutter of Tony’s heart, or Tony was just shivering.

  “Yeah…yeah I do,” Tony looked back at him. “While we’re on the subject…” Tony started, letting his hand go to Steve’s leg now, careful since it was the bad one.

  “Yes?” Steve asked.

  “Would you like to live with me?” Tony asked quickly, afraid to say it and proud of himself for asking. Tony wasn’t known for not being able to ask a question before, Steve did weird things to him, he concluded.

  “What?” Steve sat up at the question, not appalled, but not quite sure he heard correctly.

  “Yeah, you live with me—and the kids too of course!” Tony smiled, “I have a big nine bedroom house, five bathrooms, one master bed and bath of course. It’s got an indoor swimming pool and an outdoor swimming pool, hot tub, one living room, one waiting room, a big staff kitchen, a dining room, and—“ Steve had to clamp his hand over Tony’s mouth to get him to stop. Tony looked extremely hopeful and anxious waiting for Steve’s answer.

  “Yes Tony, we will,” Steve uncovered his boyfriend’s mouth to kiss it gingerly. Tony smiled widely.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah,” Steve whispered to him as their food came around finally. Tony dug in, he was still nervous as all get out, Steve thought it was cute.

                Tony was driving one of his older cars that night, a good classic car. He tried his Sports cars on Steve, but Steve sat too uncomfortably with his bad leg, Tony had been conscience of it ever since. Tony practically raced home, mindful of Steve in the passenger seat since Steve never did like speeding, he was an all American boy who obeyed the rules, it killed Tony sometimes, but he’d get over it and they’d compromise.

  “Wow,” Steve breathed out when they rounded the corner up Tony’s driveway.

  “You like it?” Tony asked in the dark of the night as he continued to drive up to the garage.

  “Tony, you said house, this is a mansion!” Steve exclaimed.

  “Is there a difference?” Tony asked, Steve looked over to him like he was crazy.

  “Well…I suppose not, house is a general term after all…but wow Tony, this is huge!” he went back to exclaiming and looking out the window.

  “You never answered me though, do you like it?” he asked again, pulling into the garage where the other thirty three more cars sat. Instead of commenting about the cars, Steve turned to him with a little smirk about his lips.

  “You’ll have to give me the grand tour first,” he said, he never saw Tony unbuckle so quickly in the short two weeks they’d been dating. Steve followed suit as fast as he could, opening the door to get out as Tony ran around to help him out.

  “Can’t we just do it here? It is on my list you know; you can have me over any of these cars!” Tony gestured around and Steve laughed at him.

  “No Tony, have some patience,” Steve hooked his arm around Tony’s waist but he did look around at the cars. “Oh hey, you have a 1931 Model A Sedan?!” Steve let go to race over to the well-kept tan car with dark brown trim.

  “Ah, you like old Betsy, hm?” Tony wandered over with a smile.

  “She’s in beautiful shape Tony!” Steve looked all around the outside of the car and on the inside. “Original Ford spare tires and headlights! Double clutch and no heating!” Steve laughed giddily.

  “She’s original to my dad,” Tony followed Steve around; Steve went to check out the rear, circling around to marvel at her.

  “She’s absolutely marvelous!” Steve had to hang onto Tony, his leg wasn’t feeling the best today.

  “Maybe you can drive her one day, I can teach you double clutch,” Tony looked to him, Steve chuckled at him.

  “I already know how,” Steve said, looking over to Tony too, he pressed his lips down onto the genius, savoring him and holding him tightly. “Wait—you have a list of where you want us to have sex?” Steve asked, recalling what Tony had said.

  “Oh…well, yeah? Is that weird? I can put that off if that’s weird, it’s really not a big deal and anyways…” Steve clamped his hand over Tony’s mouth again to get him to be quiet. He could tell Tony was nervous still, he always talked quicker when he was, most of the time he could conceal it, but Steve could read him very well now.

  “Shall we continue on with the tour?” Steve asked after clearing his throat. Tony nodded to him and wordlessly led him towards the door out of the garage. The door opened before they even got to it, an older man stood inside, waiting for Tony.

  “Oh, hi Jarvis,” he smiled to him, Jarvis gave a nod to his head, “Steve, meet Jarvis, Jarvis, this is Steve,” he introduced them once they were inside.

  “Ah yes, I’ve heard a great deal about you Mr. Rogers,” Jarvis nodded to Steve.

  “Oh?” Steve turned to look at Tony, Tony had an instant guilty look when he saw Steve’s stare. “Well it’s good to meet you Jarvis,” Steve smiled to him, “unfortunately, I hadn’t heard a lot about you,” he said and folded his arms at Tony.

  “Hey, I’m sorry! What can I say?” Tony tried to rectify himself, “I was caught up in a family!” he chuckled nervously.

  “Do you sirs require anything?” Jarvis asked them. Steve noted that he was a well-kept man; rather attractive for an older man too, they’d picked a real nice butler.

  “Uh no, nope, I don’t think so. We’re still stuffed from dinner, so we’ll be spending the night here. Breakfast would be nice, Steve, what do you want for breakfast?” Tony looked up at him.

  “Oh, um,” he thought about it, he didn’t like being put on the spot with strangers around.

  “You know what?” Tony started to answer for him. “Waffles, he likes waffles, we’ll do waffles,” Tony nodded to Jarvis; Jarvis gave his own nod back.

  “Very good sir, enjoy your evening,” the butler said and went off towards his quarters.

  “I like him,” Steve nodded, Tony grinned.

  “He’s fantastic, closest thing to a father figure that I’ll ever have. He’s always been there for me though, I don’t think I could have survived without him,” Tony nodded, nonchalantly leading him to the grand stairs. “Can we do the tour in the morning babe? I’m so wound up right now, I can’t think straight,” Tony asked which got Steve to chuckling.

  “Yes, I suppose we can,” he nodded; Tony would have run and dragged him along behind if it hadn’t been for that stupid leg. Tony cursed it and all of its pain, but he lead Steve up the stairs. When they were upstairs, Steve took the opportunity to press Tony against the wall and kiss him hard, tongue forcing its way into Tony’s mouth. Tony moaned loudly, first time he was able to really do that in this relationship. He threaded his fingers up into Steve’s hair to mess it up, Steve pressed his body against Tony’s and rutted just a little bit to get Tony going.

  “God, you’re going to kill me!” Tony breathed when Steve’s kisses went down his neck; Steve bit him on the lower neck when he pushed the shirt collar out of the way. “Steve!” he shrieked at the bite but still moaned at it, he was always surprised when Steve did that but loved the hell out of it. Steve ignored him and started to suck and lap at the bite he’d made, he could feel Tony quivering already. “Steve, Steve, bedroom please!” Tony tried to pull away from him. Steve chuckled when he pulled away, Tony was strung out, eyes blown out and he was panting.

  “Which way?” Steve looked down either hall.

  “This way, come on,” Tony pulled him to his right; Steve stumbled but followed him quickly. “Come on, come on!” Tony continued to pull him, past what looked like four rooms and two bathrooms, around the corner to the big mahogany colored door. “In, in, in!” Tony pulled the door open and shoved Steve inside, letting the door slam shut behind him when he followed Steve in. Steve pinned him against the door this time and Tony grumbled at him. “No! Not tonight!” he tried to fight Steve, “bed, now!” Tony pushed away from the door when Steve got a hold of his neck to kiss and lavish it again. “Clothes off,” he mumbled as Steve walked backwards, guided by Tony into the expansive bedroom. Steve let go of the neck to quickly kiss Tony’s lips and expertly undid the buttons from his dress shirt, pulling it from the confines of its owner’s pants.

  “Steve!” Tony breathed out, pressing Steve against the bed. Steve sat down and pulled out the undershirt from Tony’s pants and immediately went to kissing the partially defined abs before him. Tony moaned and pet Steve’s hair. Tony shrugged off his shirt and Steve pushed the undershirt up and off to follow the dress shirt on the floor. Steve’s kisses went up to Tony’s nipples, mouthing over one and tweaking the other.

  “My god Steve, you’re so good, so good to me,” he moaned out, biting his lip and pressing his hips forward. Steve smiled up at him and pulled at Tony’s neck, bringing him down into a kiss while his hands went down to the belt and dress pants, quickly undoing them and letting the pants dropped to the floor. “No fair, your shirt—your everything is still on!” Tony exclaimed, trying to claw at Steve’s shirt. Steve just chuckled at him and took Tony’s hands away.

  “Shoes off and get on the bed,” Steve told him. Tony quickly tore off his shoes and toed the pants off to the side, crawling up on his big King sized bed and sprawled himself out in the middle. He went to settle but quickly went to the side to go through his nightstand drawer.

  “We’ll be needing this,” he grinned, picking out a bottle of lubricant. Steve had to blush at it as he took off his own clothes. “Wait…I wanted to do that,” Tony pouted to him, Steve only unbuttoned his shirt, he looked to Tony and sighed.

  “Alright, fine, get over here,” Steve motioned him over, Tony forewent the lubricant and bounced off the bed to stand back in front of Steve, hungrily striping the shirts off before kneeling in front of Steve.

  “Can I?” Tony asked when he unbuckled the belt, unbuttoned the button, and unzipped the zipper. Steve lifted himself to let Tony take down everything including his underwear. They both kept their socks on.

  “How could I say no to you Tony?” Steve chuckled, biting his lip when Tony wasted no time in taking Steve into his mouth all in one go. Steve would never get used to that, he sucked in a deep breath and let his head tip back with the pleasure. “God Tony, you’re so good—so good at this,” he moaned deeply, letting himself go since he knew he probably wouldn’t get another chance like this without the kids. Tony hummed at the praise, sending vibrations through Steve’s cock, earning Tony another deep moan from Steve. Steve righted his head and looked down at Tony to watch him, he was an artist with his, truly he was. Tony bobbed up and down at the head, sucking and adding pressure, Steve experimented and thrusted a little deeper. He could feel Tony’s lips try to turn into a smirk but couldn’t with how taunt they were around Steve’s girth. It was an invitation all the same, Steve did it again, a little further. Tony obliged him and went down as far as he could, his nose tip hit the blonde curls but he couldn’t get the last two inches down.

  “It’s okay baby, it’s okay,” Steve tried to tell him, but Tony was determined this time. He pulled off and took in a deep breath and tried again, getting farther, closing his eyes at the strain that it was putting on his throat and jaw. “Please babe, don’t hurt yourself,” Steve tried to push him off, Tony looked up at him and Steve groaned, Tony had that determined-even-if-it-kills-me look. “Babe, you pleasure me just fine, you don’t need to—oh god! How did you do that?!” Steve exclaimed as Tony finally took him all the way, he had to change his position slightly, but he was all the way down. Steve forcibly pushed him off just as he was about cum, Tony was growling at him and going to ask why he did that but suddenly had cum in his mouth and beard.

  “Oh,” Tony said simply, swallowing what he could.

  “I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to…” Steve winced, out of breath now. Tony used his finger to clean the rest of his face and got what he could out of his beard.

  “Don’t apologize love, you had every right to cum, I know I’m that good,” Tony stood bent over, hands still on Steve’s knees, a large smirk on his lips before he swooped in to kiss his lover. Steve pushed forward to embrace the kiss, cupping Tony’s jaw, hands running down Tony’s sides to suddenly pull him up onto the bed in one haul. Tony shrieked at the flight but it soon turned into a giggle and he wiggled back up to the pillows, Steve climbed up after him, crawling between his legs.

  “Have I ever told you that you’re beautiful?” Steve asked, Tony smiled up at him, biting his lip with a grin.

  “Once,” Tony replied, ghosting his fingers of the small metal plates in his chest, Steve grinned and kissed at the belly again, this time he went down and nipped at the clear erection through Tony’s boxer-briefs. Tony moaned and lifted his hips up to meet Steve’s lips. Steve lapped at him and then gently removed the offending cloth, pulling it down and off him, throwing it on the floor with the rest of the clothes. Steve went back to the throbbing cock before him, he licked a stripe up the underside of it, tonguing the slit causing Tony to moan loudly and buck his hips again.

  “God—Steve!” Tony said sharply when Steve took him into his mouth. It didn’t last too long though, Steve pulled off and knelt upright once more. He grabbed one of the pillows behind Tony and stuffed it under Tony’s hips. He could hear Tony talking mildly above him, random things that didn’t mean anything to Steve since they were primarily about engineering and whatever else Tony actually did in that lab of his. Steve grabbed the lubricant and smeared a generous amount on his fingers, warming it up some before he smeared it against Tony’s fluttering hole, Tony was already quivering in anticipation. There were a couple words that Steve heard that made him stop everything and look at Tony.

  “So you seem like you know what you’re doing,” Tony said to him, Steve gave him an award winning smile.

  “Should I not know?” he asked, leaning forward to kiss Tony, finger gently playing with the tense ring of muscle.

  “No, no, no, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Tony quickly said, turning his talk into a mumble. “It’s just that…well, I am,” he said, looking up to his boyfriend.

  “You are what?” Steve asked, spotting a delicious piece of Tony’s neck that he hadn’t quite gotten to yet, he dove down to lick and kiss at him.

  “Am a virgin…down there at least,” Tony told him, whining at the lips on his neck. Steve picked his head up at that and looked down to him.

  “Tony Stark is a virgin?” Steve mused with a grin.

  “Yes…yes, I am,” Tony defended himself with a pout.

  “But I thought that you—“

  “I always topped.”

  “Oh I see,” Steve smiled and leaned forward to gently capture Tony’s lips, a slow and methodic kiss, “don’t you worry, I’ll take it easy on you,” Steve whispered, Tony bit his lip again, showing his anticipation. “This makes it all the more special for me, you know, letting me take your virginity,” Steve started to kiss down Tony’s neck, trying to quell the shivers as he worked the muscle continuously with his finger. “But,” he stopped at the pectoral and looked up to Tony, “I can feel your nerves about this and I really don’t mind if you want to switch it up and take me instead,” Steve shrugged, Tony let his head fall back onto the pillow, mouth hanging open.

  “One day Steve, one day, for now, I want you to fuck me into oblivion!” he picked his head back up just as Steve pressed his middle finger into him, “oh god!” he squeaked, letting his head fall back down again as Steve gave a deep chuckle.

  “You just let me know if you change your mind, I’ll go easy on you,” he told him again, gently working the finger in and out as he kissed at Tony’s perky nipples to draw some distraction for him. Tony shook his head and laid completely open for Steve, wanting him to be his first. Steve took the silence as acceptance and worked on, loosening the muscle as best as he could. Soon, he was able to work in two fingers, Tony was quivering much more now at the stimulation. “Do you want me to do anything?” Steve asked him, trying to soothe his genius as much as he could; he was petting the soft stomach now.

  “Just keep going,” Tony managed to choke out.

  “Tell me if it hurts you,” Steve kissed the stomach instead and rubbed at the tense thighs.

  “I will,” Tony nodded and then clenched when Steve started to pet at his prostrate. “Steve! That’s—that’s not helping me to relax!” Tony whined and clutched at the blanket around him, panting when Steve lapped at his erection again, taking it into his mouth a couple times until Tony hit his own orgasm.

 “There you go babe,” Steve murmured against Tony’s stomach, cum littered on the smooth surface now after the orgasm. Tony hummed in appreciation and Steve slipped in the third finger to the now pliant muscles.

  “You’re a genius,” Tony breathed out in a giggle, eyes closed; he let Steve do what he needed.

  “Only half the time,” Steve chuckled back; he lapped up a bit of the ejaculate, tongue flat against Tony’s stomach.

  “Goddamn Steve, you’re—mm,” Tony muffled himself; he could clearly feel Steve cleaning him up, one lick at a time while his fingers continue to stretch and work below him.

  “I know,” Steve smirked and continued his endeavor. “Are you ready for me?” Steve asked, popping his head up to look at his genius, Tony looked elated and almost off this world. Tony’s eyes shifted towards Steve and smiled.

  “Yeah, it feels good down there now,” Tony nodded. Steve took his hand out, smiled at Tony’s whine but pressed a kiss into Tony’s lips as he slicked himself up, preparing. He pulled away to add more lube to Tony, just to be certain, before he pushed himself at the hole. It was still fairly tight at first for him, Tony’s wince told him that, but he continued until it was easier. Steve pulled out and tested again, stretching Tony further than he had with his fingers. At Tony’s moan, he knew he was good and pressed forward and forward, Tony’s body willingly accepting him as he pressed on. Steve added his own quiver at the heat, it was almost unbearable, but it was also very comforting, Tony enveloping him. Steve dried off his fingers on a tissue before he moved up to kiss Tony, grounding him again.

  “So good, so, so, so good,” Tony kept mumbling as he kissed Steve back, wrapping his leg’s around Steve’s body as the soldier rocked back and forth in small motions. It’d been quite a while for Steve, he tried not to break loose of his constraint and so he had to go slow, it helped Tony too though, allowing him to adjust to his full length. “Good god Steve! I can feel you! All the way! All the way up! Oh god!” Tony arched his back; that was enough foreplay for Steve. Steve pulled out and rammed back into him, quickly building up a quick and pleasurable pace for himself, disregarding all of the noises coming from Tony. Half the noises were strangled, some were pure pleasure, some were in pain, some were elated, he couldn’t make up his mind whether it hurt or not.

                Steve slammed his boyfriend, rutting in and out as fast as he could, sheen of sweat building on both of them. He practically broke Tony in half, but he didn’t care, Tony didn’t seem to care either. Tony kissed and bit and scratched at Steve, pulling him closer if it were possible. Tony kept talking to him, sweet-talking, and rambling on about Steve’s beautiful pectorals or the way the huge cocked filled him to the brim, he just kept talking and Steve kept thrusting; listening to his beautiful idiot.

                Steve stilled his hips when he felt the fire settle in his gut, Tony went to ask why he’d stopped but Steve just started to roll his hips slowly, in and out of Tony. Tony moaned at it and scrambled to kiss Steve. Steve had practically marked up Tony’s entire neck now with hickies, some were only small little teeth marks, and others were a little bit bigger and very dark since he’d been working on them this entire time. Steve was sure that he’d have Tony’s nail marks on his back and shoulders for a while as well.

  “I love you,” Tony said so sharply and quickly that it startled Steve, Steve looked down at him with a fondness. He knew that it would be hard for Tony to say it, but he never thought that he’d say it while they were having sex! Steve smiled and bent to kiss those eager and red lips, the same lips that kept telling him, he was amazing.

  “I love you too Tony,” he whispered back. “I love you so much Tony, more than I’ve ever loved anyone like this,” Steve continued, still rolling his hips almost idly, reveling in the warmth that was Tony Stark. “I want to spend eternity with you, just staring at you and taking in the curves and lines of your body, to listen to you talk and ramble on about absolutely nothing and everything all at once. I never want to leave you, no matter what, I will always be here for you and I know you’ll be here for me. We’re not perfect and that’s why I love us, I love being with you. It’s not about the money or the fame, or whatever it is that you have, I just love spending time here, with you,” Steve showered him with praise. Tony didn’t even have to touched again, he just arched his back, balls tight to him as they pumped out the white liquid, hot on his chest; coming from the praise Steve had just given him. Steve grinned and kissed him, rolling his hips a little harder, ecstatic that he could make his boyfriend come by merely talking to him. Steve kissed Tony’s forehead before he lower his own to Tony’s shoulder, coming deeply inside of Steve, stilling his hips but the small jerks as he emptied himself.

  “I think I’m utterly ruined for anyone else…ever!” Tony exclaimed when Steve completely let himself go lax on top of Tony. Steve chuckled and laid there as long as Tony would let him, just trying to even out his breathing again.

  “Good,” he mumbled against hot skin below him, “If you even _think_ about running off with someone else, I’ll cut you off from the kids,” he played with him.

  “Aww, no fair!” Tony whined, wiggling under Steve’s weight.

  “You would have brought it on yourself Tony,” Steve picked his head up to kiss Tony pensively. Tony looked up at him and smiled reassuringly.

  “I’d never, just so you know,” Tony cupped Steve’s cheek, thumbing the clean shaven skin. Steve smiled at the reassurance and leaned into the hand.

  “Let me just…” Steve mumbled as he started to pull himself out gently, Tony grumbled his protest, but he was happy when he let his sore legs down and Steve moved to the side of him. “Where’s the bathroom?” Steve asked, Tony tiredly pointed to the left; Steve followed and saw the open door. “Ah, I’ll be right back,” Steve kissed Tony’s cheek and let the billionaire drift into a light sleep. Steve padded over to the door, turned the light on and went to find some sort of cloth; he found the wash cloth in the cabinet and went to the sink. He let the warm water run a few moments before running the cloth under, while he did that, he looked up at the mirror in front of him. He smiled at his reflection, for the first time in a while, things were going right, and he’d be able to keep the kids and Tony. His eyes never sparkled more blue than they were now, he even blushed at his own reflection; hardly recognizing it. He pulled away from his reflection to stop the water and ring out the cloth, cleaning himself up first since he knew it would be a real pain to do in the morning, for both of them. He turned the light off and padded out to Tony who was already sleeping, Steve chuckled at him as he climbed back into the bed and pushed Tony onto his back again.

  “Stebe…” Tony breathed out, wondering why he was being man handled. Steve just went about his business, cleaning Tony’s chest first, then to the placid penis and finally to his ass. Tony squeaked when the cloth hit him, he woke up ready to knee Steve in the face until he saw what he was doing. “Oh…sorry babe,” he said quietly, Steve patted him and finished his cleaning. He placed the cloth in the hamper and pulled the pillow out from under Tony, it was still wet with lubricant, so he placed that on the floor to be cleaned off later. Then he pulled the blankets out from under Tony, the genius loudly protested that but purred in delight when Steve wrapped himself around Tony and covered him completely; big spoon, little spoon style.

  “Good night Tony, I love you,” Steve whispered to him, kissing his cheek and snuggling; his right hand covering Tony’s heart where the plated shrapnel was.

  “I rub-bu to,” Tony tried in his sleep, Steve smiled at the attempt and drifted off.


	7. Good Morning, Breakfast, The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The couple wake up to have breakfast and discuss things.

Steve woke the next day, it was the first time that he’d slept so soundly before. They’d slept together before, and Steve still had his nightmares, but this was the first night in a long time that they didn’t wake him so terribly. Tony was still nestled in his arms, they hadn’t moved an inch. Steve figured that they were so used to sleeping on the small couch by now. He pulled away to lie on his back, stretching with the morning sun that was peeking through the windows.

  “Stebe, go back ‘ta sleep,” Tony mumbled, flopping backward himself to cuddle with Steve. Steve chuckled and caressed at Tony’s hair; a weakness that he found just the other day, Tony was like putty in his hands when he played with it. “Owe…” Tony grumbled and Steve furrowed his brow.

  “What?” he asked, he didn’t feel any tangles in the black hair and he’d never pull it, at least, not on purpose unless he had special permission; he liked Tony’s hair too much to do that though.

  “Yer leg…feel’s’like its poking me…” Tony moved his leg away. Steve pulled away and pulled the blanket down to find out what was wrong, he sighed when a tiny piece of shrapnel was working its way out.

  “Two pieces in two weeks?! That’s unheard of!” Steve grumbled but got up despite Tony’s request for him to stay and have more sexy times. Steve chuckled as he went back into the bathroom to find tweezers. The piece was only a centimeter or two, very tiny compared to the last one. He plucked it out and pressed a Band-Aid over it to stop the trickle of blood. He went back to flop on the bed near Tony, causing Tony to jump at the sudden intrusion. Tony was going to smack him but he stopped and sniffed the air. “I don’t smell that bad, do I?” Steve chuckled, crawling back up to snuggle his genius.

  “No…no! Jarvis is cooking!” Tony exclaimed, sitting up, Steve still attached to him. “Can’t you smell it?”

  “All I smell is you and my god, it’s wonderful,” Steve shook his head, nose buried on Tony’s stomach.

  “You’re a sap,” Tony tried to push him away with a giggle.

  “We just spent two weeks snuggled at my apartment, all I can smell was myself and now that I get to be here in your domain with your scent everywhere, you make me try to smell waffles,” Steve grumbled, holding Tony tighter. Tony stayed quiet for a moment, Steve knew that meant that he was plotting something, he risked to peak open an eye, Tony was lying back with his hands behind his head, just relaxing with a little smile.

  “You like it, hm?” Tony asked, getting Steve to join him at the pillows again as he snaked himself over Steve. “Like to smell me? Like to mark me as your own?” he asked, dipping his head into the kisses. Tony draped himself across Steve, knee fitting between Steve’s legs as he held himself up. “Want to roll around in my scent and get it all over you? Or do you want me to smell like you? Want to make me yours and yours only,” Tony said roughly to him between the kisses, Steve couldn’t help the practical panting that he was doing.

  “You’re so good at this…” Steve whispered, hands grabbing at Tony’s hips when he came down to rut his partial erection against Steve’s thigh.

  “Damn right I am!” Tony bit Steve’s lip and dropped his head to kiss under the chin and down to the clavicle, lavishing it. “You’re not the only one who can be possessive—whoa!” Tony yelped when Steve rolled them over so he was on top, he grinned to Tony and grabbed the lube bottle and switched them back to their prior positions.

  “Continue,” Steve told him, getting his left hand slick with lube before he wrapped it around Tony’s cock to let his boyfriend use it. Tony sputtered at the warmth around him and snapped his hips quicker, he threw his left hand up to brace it against Steve’s shoulder.

  “God—damned it Rogers! Why…why is your hand so fucking big?!” Tony growled at him, Steve just smirked and shrugged his hand while Tony gripped him for dear life. Tony had forgotten all about the possessive thing and just rutted himself into oblivion. “Fuck!” Tony let it drag out as he came in Steve’s hand again, that hand was sinful to him, it was so easy to get off on it. Steve smiled up at him with that smile, similar to the one that Natasha used; he _knew_. Tony quickly let himself fall atop Steve, exaggeratedly as he huffed at him, Steve only chuckled at him.

  “You’re rude, you know that?” Tony rolled off him and propped himself on his elbow. “Just plain fucking rude,” he shook his hand as he watched his boyfriend give a couple lazy strokes to his own raging erection.

  “Are you going to help me?” Steve asked, letting the lubricant slide on his skin, enjoying the feeling.

  “No, I want you to get yourself off and I’m going to watch,” Tony told him.

  “Is that revenge for taking your thunder?” Steve laughed at him.

  “Oh fuck off,” Tony said playfully, trying to push his super soldier but barely budging him an inch.

  “Alright, alright, alright,” Steve grabbed a couple of the pillows to lean against, hand rubbing down at his balls and the taunt skin back there. Tony moved away from him and sat at the end of the bed in front of Steve so he could see everything.

  “Can I video you sometime?” Tony asked him, loving the way that the artist’s back arched when he fondled his balls.

  “If it’s only for your private use, yes,” Steve nodded, one hand going behind his head to watch himself.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful,” Tony breathed out, sad that he’d already cum, he was done for a little while at least. Steve ignored him and continued on his endeavor, showing off for Tony, his Tony. He really liked how that sounded and how breathless Tony looked while watching him. He scanned his boyfriend’s body, there were a couple bruises from his hands and fingers on the slender hips, another on his arm and about five hickies on the neck. Tony was his, all his, his hand pumped faster and tighter around himself. He barely had to even do anything, just showing off in front of Tony was enough, he let himself spill out onto his own abs, breathing heavy and sighing with relief.

  “Wait—wait, wait!” Tony scrambled to come closer, “I want to burn this in my memory, god, you’re so fucking beautiful Steve,” he looked at him. The bad leg was straight out but the right leg was bend up, hand still at the base of his cock, both glistening with lubricant. Steve was starting to breathe normally again, but there was still a heave in his stomach as he breathed in and out, cum cooling on his stomach. The abs twitched with a slight overstimulation, Steve’s pectorals were delicious enough on their own, but packaged up with the rest of them; Tony was going to be a dead man. Then he stopped at Steve’s face, there it was, that smug little smirk.

  “I could lay here all day while you look at me,” Steve admitted.

  “And I could spend all day just mapping your entire body, god, I can’t believe all this is mine!” Tony bent over to kiss the knee besides him.

  “Well…your body is getting a little hungry,” Steve dared to move, at least releasing his cock to stretch out his hand since it’d been fucked twice.

  “Wait—don’t move, I got you,” Tony jumped off the bed to get the cloth from the hamper, cleaning off what little cum he had on himself before going over to Steve to clean him off as well. “I brought over some of your sweats and shirts in case something like this happened,” he gently cleaned off Steve’s member and then his hand and the rest of him.

  “You sly dog, you,” Steve chuckled and sat up while Tony ran around gathering clothes. “I thought I was the one with the plan!” he pouted.

  “Yeah, well, not when the plan involves you!” Tony went by, kissing Steve’s cheek before he went to his closet to dig out their clothes.

  “You’re adorable, you know that?” Steve got up to join Tony in the walk in closet, he happily adorned his new underwear, sweats, and tee shirt; his socks were still on. “Hey,” Steve pulled Tony to him when they were done dressing, “how do you feel?” he asked, petting Tony’s hips as he held the genius to him. Tony’s back was against him, he immediately relaxed into the warmth.

  “Yeah, I’ve never felt better,” Tony laid his head on Steve’s shoulder. Steve hummed his approval and gently kissed at one of the hickies knowing that they were sore. Tony’s hand went up to thread in Steve’s thoroughly messed hair, he loved the feel of the silky dark blonde locks. “We should eat and then get back to tell the kids the good news,” Tony said, he didn’t move just yet though, very warm in his lovers embrace.

  “Mm, yeah,” Steve nosed at the hickey instead, kissing the clothed shoulder.

                It was still a good five minutes before the pair went downstairs to the kitchen to eat the wonderfully cooked meal by Jarvis. Steve enjoyed the fresh fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice, the coffee that followed was absolutely tantalizing. He felt like he could live like this forever, the look that Tony was giving him told him that Tony was thinking the same thing.

  “I love you, I love you so much,” Tony told him and Steve had to grin and blush, Jarvis was still in the room after all.

  “I love you too Tony,” Steve leaned over to kiss Tony chastely, loving the taste of coffee on his lovers lips. “I can’t believe that we’re really going to live here…” he looked around the kitchen, eyes ending on Jarvis. “Oh…oh, did you tell Jarvis?” he asked.

  “Jarvis had known for a week,” Tony told him and then froze as he looked to Steve, Steve just laughed at him.

  “You’ve got an entire plan for us! Do you intend on keeping all of us prisoner or are you going to let us in on it?” Steve grinned and put his arm around Tony’s shoulder. Tony ducked his head with a smile.

  “That was pretty much it. Oh, I’m giving Natasha the gym to work out with, with her friends if she wants to. Clint had a bow and arrow range out the back and Bruce has a mini lab,” he scratched the back of his head, “oh and there is equipment down in the gym for you too…” he finished.

  “You are…you…” Steve shook his head, the smile growing and growing on him, “you’re amazing, you are absolutely and utterly amazing!” he had to express.

  “We should get to my apartment soon to tell the kids,” Steve said quietly, loosing himself in Tony’s deep blue eyes.

  “Would you like me to pick them up, sir?” Jarvis interrupted them, Steve cleared his throat, coy of Jarvis.

  “No, I think we should pick them up ourselves,” Tony nodded to Jarvis.

  “Very well sir,” Jarvis nodded.

  “Wait, what you do think of him Jarv?” Tony stopped him from leaving.

  “Tony,” Steve shifted uncomfortably, Jarvis looked down at him, it wasn’t such a condescending stare though, it was almost comforting.

  “I approve sir,” he gave a slight smile to them before turning to leave. Steve looked to Tony, Tony himself looked shocked.

  “Are you okay?” Steve asked.

  “I—uh, yeah…he’s, just…he’s never said that before,” Tony told him. Steve smiled and pushed forward to kiss his boyfriend.

                So Steve and Tony drove back to the tiny apartment, picked the kids up for the surprise and drove back out. Steve hugged his kids when they all got a little more emotional than they wanted to let on, Tony came over and Steve pulled him into the family hug. Tony’s tiny family was growing quickly, he felt like the luckiest and the happiest person alive.

                So it was official, everyone moved in, it was a hard adjustment at first, it took another month before everyone was absolutely comfortable with their new home. Tony wanted to give his new family everything they could ever want, he almost did too. It was another three months before he asked Steve to marry him. Steve couldn’t say no to his genius billionaire, he was much too in love with him for that to happen. The family had their tough times and difficulties, but somehow, they managed to get through. Tony’s tiny, dysfunctional, happy family. He loved it.


End file.
